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The Chandigarh mayoral polls are set to be the first election face-off between the INDIA bloc and the BJP. With AAP and Congress teaming up, the contest is expected to set the tone for future elections, including the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. It is a significant moment as this will be the first time the INDIA bloc is directly challenging the BJP.
The INDIA bloc was formed by opposition parties to take on the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections.
The elections for the posts of mayor, senior deputy mayor, and deputy mayor in Chandigarh are scheduled for Thursday (January 18). On Monday, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress formed an alliance for the polls in the Union Territory.
According to the alliance arrangement, the AAP will contest for the mayor’s seat, while the Congress will compete for the positions of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor.
The Bharatiya Janata Party currently holds 14 council seats in the 35-member Chandigarh Municipal Corporation after an AAP councillor switched sides. The AAP has 13 councillors, the Congress has seven, and the Shiromani Akali Dal has one councillor.
The mayor will be picked by councillors through secret ballots, and the mayor’s post is reserved for SC candidates this time.
The BJP’s candidates for the posts of mayor, senior deputy mayor, and deputy mayor are Manoj Sonkar, Kuljeet Sandhu, and Rajinder Sharma, respectively.
AAP leader Raghav Chadha has said that this will be the first time the INDIA bloc directly challenges the BJP, before the Lok Sabha polls. Chadha said, “The Chandigarh municipal polls will be the first big face-off between the BJP and the INDIA bloc. It will set the tone for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.”
“INDIA Alliance will fight the Chandigarh mayor elections with all its strength and register a historic and decisive victory. Don’t consider this an ordinary election. This will be an election where for the first time it will be INDIA vs BJP…After this election, the scorecard will be INDIA 1, BJP 0. We think that the clean sweep on 18th January will be the beginning for the Lok Sabha election 2024,” he said.
As per the arrangement, AAP candidate Kuldeep Kumar Tita will contend for the mayor’s seat, while Congress nominees Gurpreet Singh Gabi and Nirmala Devi will compete for the positions of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor.
Previously, the Congress had named its councillor from Ward Number-24, Jasbir Singh Bunty, as the candidate for the mayor’s post. Councillors Gurpreet Singh Gabi and Nirmala Devi were named as candidates for the positions of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor, respectively.
AAP had announced Kuldeep Kumar from Ward Number-26 as its candidate for the mayor’s seat. For the senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor positions, councillors Neha Musavat and Poonam Sandeep Kumar were named as AAP candidates.
The upcoming poll holds significance as it is expected to be a litmus test for the INDIA bloc against the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha battle.
