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SAD, BJP file 41 objections to delimitation of wards in Mohali
The councillors have accused the ruling Congress government in Punjab of acting like a dictator and carrying out delimitation to benefit its party councillors
Former councillors from both Shiromani Akali Dal and Bharatiya Janata Party have filed 41 objections to the delimitation of wards in Mohali as 70% seats held by them in the previous municipal corporation House have either been recarved or reserved or dereserved to their detriment ahead of the upcoming civic body elections.
In most of the objections, the councillors have accused the ruling Congress government in Punjab of acting like a dictator and carrying out delimitation to benefit its party councillors.
However, municipal commissioner Kamal Kumar Garg rubbished all objections, stating that the delimitation was done as per rules and regulations of the state government.
“The objections have been sent to the director, local bodies, who will take the final call,” he said.
Former Akali councillor Parminder Singh Sohana, in his objections, questioned as to why the names of mayor or deputy mayor were not included in the delimitation board. “It clearly states that the intention of the Congress was not clean,” he said.
Former BJP councillor Rajinder Sharma alleged delimitation was not done as per rules, and its only purpose was to benefit Congress councillors.
Meanwhile, former Congress councillor Kuljeet Singh Bedi, who was also a member of the delimitation board, said: “Both SAD and BJP are making unnecessary hue and cry, as they know they are going to lose the elections badly. Everything has been done as per rules.”
In fact, on the plea of five former councillors, the Punjab and Haryana high court on November 1 had put the Punjab government and Mohali administration on notice. The plea sought quashing of the July 31 notification through which the delimitation board was constituted as well as the October 28 notification that subsequently recarved the wards.
The delimitation board was constituted by the local bodies department to redraw boundaries of wards based on the recent census. The population under the MC’s jurisdiction has gone up from 1.64 lakh to 1.87 lakh since the last delimitation.
In the first MC elections held in Mohali in 2015, the Congress had won from 15 wards and the SAD-BJP alliance got 23 seats. The Azad group, led by Kulwant Singh, won from 10 while two seats went to Independents.
With the support of his group besides 14 Congress councillors and the two Independents, Kulwant was elected Mohali’s first mayor in August 2015. Two years later, the Azad group merged into the SAD. In the upcoming elections, the SAD and BJP will be contesting separately after their alliance at the Centre broke.
