Chandigarh mayoral election: Chairs won, but running the House won’t be easy for BJP

Chandigarh Only ten-days after being reduced to second position in the municipal corporation elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured all three mayoral posts in the election held here on Saturday. But the road ahead won’t be easy for the BJP as the party is in a minority with 13 seats in the 35-member House.

Having mayor’s post, BJP might be able to set agenda for the MC House meet, but getting it passed will be a challenge. It could face stubborn resistance from both the AAP and the Congress members in passing of agenda items.

“An invalid vote and cross-voting helped the BJP prevail in the mayoral elections. When the actual business of the House starts, it will be an altogether different game. It will find that managing votes in absence of secret ballot isn’t easy and many of its proposed policy decisions might get stuck,” said a senior Congress leader who didn’t want to be named.

With AAP already showing its will to fight it out on the floor of the House, the BJP will have to either seek support from the Congress or attempt at reaching consensus among all the parties.

Newly-elected mayor Sarabjit Kaur said, “We will work with all the parties and try to bring them together for the good of the city. With the elections, the politics should end and work for the people’s welfare must start.”

SAD, Congress kept themselves at bay

Both the Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) abstained from the mayoral elections keeping in mind the forthcoming Punjab elections. All four – AAP, BJP, Congress and SAD — are locked in a tight contest against each other in Punjab.

Congress has seven councillors and SAD has one in the Chandigarh MC House.

“Supporting each other in Chandigarh can be counter-productive for the parties in Punjab. So, Congress and SAD opted out of voting,” said a Congress leader. Many political experts feel that the city’s politics will change after the Punjab elections are over. “The opposition parties are likely to come closer, at least issue-based help can be expected to corner the BJP,” said another leader.

After din and drama, allegations fly thick and fast

Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Punjab and Chandigarh affairs in-charge Jarnail Singh accused the BJP of murdering democracy in the mayoral election. “City residents gave AAP the maximum 14 seats. Our victory in the mayor’s election was certain, but one of the AAP candidate votes was declared invalid,” he said. At a press conference later, he also accused the officials of “helping” the BJP.

AAP’s Punjab affairs co-in-charge Raghav Chadha said it has become clear that the BJP had contested the mayor’s election after having a ‘secret alliance’ with the Congress. “The two parties entered into a secret pact to keep AAP out of the mayor’s race. We will contest the mayor’s election in court,” he said.

Responding to AAP allegations, city BJP president Arun Sood rubbished the allegations. “All the rules and regulations were followed in the mayoral elections. Today, the people of Chandigarh go to know the anarchic behaviour of the AAP. Physically attacking the newly elected mayor was a shameful act,” he said.

Meanwhile, city Congress spokesperson Rajiv Sharma said, “AAP has once again proved that it is the ‘B-team’ of the BJP. One AAP councillor ensured that his vote gets invalid so that the post goes to the BJP. Another cross-voted in favour of the BJP for senior deputy mayor’s post.”

On AAP’s hue and cry over the invalid vote, deputy commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh said, “As per Municipal Regulations 1996, the onus of counting of votes is on the presiding authority. The vote was declared invalid by the presiding authority on ground of an identification mark. There is provision of election petition in law to challenge any elections.”