With eight candidates withdrawing from the fray on Sunday, the last day of withdrawal of nominations, 122 candidates will fight it out on 26 wards for the municipal corporation elections scheduled on December 18.
The Congress and the BJP are contesting from all 26 wards; the Bahujan Samaj Party is contesting from 17 wards. The candidature of 56 candidates, including former mayor and SAD leader Harjinder Kaur, was cancelled. Two candidates withdrew giving their support in favour of the Congress.
Mukesh Devi, Independent candidate, from ward 1 withdrew her nomination in favour of Congress candidate Harmohinder Singh Lucky.
Announcing this former MP Pawan Kumar Bansal said she joined the Congress and declared her support to Lucky. Lucky also carried out door-to-door campaign in government quarters in Sector 7. Kapil Bhardwaj of the BSP withdrew his candidature after coming out in support of Davinder Singh Babla, Congress candidate from ward 18.
Independent candidate from ward 21, Rakesh Sharma (Rocky) withdrew his nomination in support of BJP candidate Gurpreet Singh Dhillon. Another independent candidate Vijay Singh from ward 14 extended his support to BJP candidate.
Three BJP members suspended
{{/usCountry}}Three BJP members suspended
{{/usCountry}}BJP state president Sanjay Tandon dismissed three party members for contesting against official party candidates, with immediate effect.
The party took disciplinary action against Geeta Ram, whose wife is contesting independently from ward 6, Dalip Sharma, who is independently contesting against BJP candidate from ward 19, and Narinder Guleria, who is contesting independently from ward 10.
Tandon said, “While the Congress believed in assurances, the BJP managed to meet its commitments by bringing major relief to the youth by relaxing the upper age limit from 25 years to 37 years, for joining government jobs in the Chandigarh administration.”
He added local MP Kirron Kher’s efforts enabled the decision for entry into government service (in direct recruitment) for technical and non-technical posts on the Punjab pattern.