Chandigarh mayoral polls today: In AAP vs BJP, SAD may prove game changer

After the historical municipal corporation poll results, suspense remains over the results of the mayoral election scheduled on Saturday.

Debutant Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are set to fight it out with 14 votes each, while the Congress,with its seven councillors, has decided to sit the election out.

With the Congress refusing to pick sides, it can be anyone’s game, especially considering the strong history of cross voting in the mayoral polls. The lone Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) councillor, if he does not abstain, can well be the game-changer.

In case, both the parties are tied, a draw of lots may be the determiner. The House meeting will start at 11am and BJP councillor Maheshinder Singh Sidhu will be the presiding authority.

Charges of horse-trading have been flying high, with parties going so far as moving their councillors out of town to prevent poaching.

The AAP had taken its councillors first to Delhi and then to Kasauli-Barog in Himachal Pradesh, the Congress arranged for its councillors stay in Jaipur, Rajasthan, and the BJP opted for the cool climes of Shimla.

The candidates in fray

The AAP has fielded Anju Katyal and the BJP Sarabjit Kaur, both first-timers, as the post is reserved for a woman councillor in the new House’s first year. While both candidates filed their nomination papers on the last date, the Congress had opted out of the race. The SAD also did not pitch a candidate.

The BJP has fielded Dalip Sharma for the post of senior deputy mayor and Anup Gupta for the post of deputy mayor, while the AAP has fielded Prem Lata for the post of senior deputy mayor and Ram Chander Yadav for the post of deputy mayor.

A hung House

In the December 27 results, no single party had secured majority, throwing up a hung House. The AAP had won 14 seats, while the BJP’s strength was reduced to 12 seats from the 20 it had won in 2016. Congress had won eight seats, and the SAD one seat.

However, after Harpreet Kaur Babla, who won on a Congress ticket, switched to the BJP, Congress’ strength dropped to seven and BJP’s increased to 13.

In the full House of 36, including one vote of Chandigarh MP, who is currently from BJP, the total votes of the saffron fold stand at 14, equal to AAP’s strength in the House.

The BJP and AAP leaders are confident that their candidates will win the election. Congress’ spokesperson Rajesh Sharma said, “We have principally decided that we will not vote for any party and abstain from it. We are ideologically different from both BJP and AAP, and will not support any of them.”

Meanwhile, it is unclear whether SAD’s Hardeep Singh will support the BJP or AAP, or abstain from voting. The party has not issued any categorical statement.