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Will contest all 50 seats in next Mohali MC elections: BJP
In the previous five-year term of the MC House that ended on April 26 this year, Congress had 14 councillors and the SAD-BJP alliance had won with 23 councillors
With the culmination of their alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders in Mohali have said they will now contest the upcoming municipal corporation (MC) elections on all 50 seats, adding that they had been feeling suffocated with the Akalis.
Though the date is yet to be decided, the MC elections are likely to be held next month, in 50 wards, with 2.36 lakh people voting. As the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and a splinter Akali group floated by Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa are still uncertain over contesting the polls, Mohali is in for a three-cornered contest among Congress, SAD and BJP.
In the last MC elections, of a total 50 seats, BJP had contested on 20, but won only six.
Ashok Jha, BJP secretary and spokesperson, Mohali, said, “We were feeling really suffocated with SAD as they always suppressed us. The decision of snapping the ties should have been taken much earlier. Also, they never offered us the post of deputy mayor or senior deputy mayor.”
Sukhwinder Singh Goldy, executive member of Punjab state BJP, said, “Now, we will be in a better position to serve the people of Mohali.”
On the other hand, NK Sharma, district president, SAD, said, “We treated them with full respect and now they are leveling baseless allegations. In 2022, they will come to know the reality of whose side the people of Punjab are on.”
Meanwhile, Punjab cabinet minister Balbir Singh Sidhu said the Congress was ready for the MC elections. “The people of Mohali have seen development in the last few years and we are hopeful of winning the elections with a clean majority. Both BJP and SAD will be wiped out.”
In the previous five-year term of the MC House that ended on April 26 this year, Congress had 14 councillors and the SAD-BJP alliance had won with 23 councillors; Azad group, which was led by former mayor Kulwant Singh, had won 10 seats; and two seats were won by independent councillors. In August 2017, Kulwant Singh had joined SAD.
Out of the 2.36 lakh people who will be voting in the MC polls, 25,000 belong to the Scheduled Castes (SC) category. Five seats in the MC House are reserved for SC candidates, two for women (SC), three for backward classes (BC) and two for women (BC). There are 43 general category seats, of which 23 are for women and 20 for men.
