Chandigarh mayoral polls today: Advantage AAP-Congress as BJP bets on defection

All eyes will be on the high-octane Chandigarh mayoral elections as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Congress alliance take on the Bharatiya Janata Party for the coveted post on Thursday. The elections for the posts of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor will be held simultaneously.
Though the city elects a new mayor every year, the stakes are higher this time as these elections are being seen as a curtain raiser to the Lok Sabha elections set to take place later this year.
It is also the first time that the AAP and Congress are fighting together, as part of the INDIA bloc. With the two parties stitching an alliance to stop the saffron party juggernaut, the BJP is pinning its hopes on last-minute defections to sway the result in its favour.
As per the alliance agreement, AAP will field its candidate for the post of mayor while Congress will contest for the posts of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor.
While AAP’s Kuldeep Dhalor will take on the BJP’s Manoj Sonkar for the top post, Congress councillors Gurpreet Singh Gabi will be up against BJP’s Kuljeet Sandhu for the senior deputy mayor’s post and Nirmala Devi will fight saffron party’s Rajinder Sharma for the deputy mayor’s post.
BJP defeat imminent after 8 yrs
If the AAP and Congress ensure party-line voting, their 20 votes together are sufficient to trounce the BJP that has held the mayor’s chair for eight years straight.
To be elected, a mayoral candidate must gather at least 19 votes.
At 14, the BJP has the most number of councillors in the 35-member MC House, while AAP comes a close second in strength with 13. The Congress has seven councillors, whereas one councillor is from SAD.
With another vote of local MP and ex-officio member Kirron Kher, BJP has an edge, but not enough to beat Congress and AAP’s conjoined numbers.
However, since the mayor is elected by the councillors through a secret ballot, the possibility of cross-voting cannot be ruled out.
If they do clinch the mayoral elections, the Congress-AAP alliance will have less than three months to spearhead significant development initiatives in Chandigarh to strengthen their position for the Parliamentary seat.
Will vote for NOTA: SAD
The lone SAD councillor in the House, Hardeep Singh, said, “I have requested the deputy commissioner of Chandigarh to include ‘NOTA’ option in the ballot paper. I will vote for NOTA. I am a party worker, and I will vote as per instructions of SAD leader Sukhbir Badal.”
How BJP won last two polls
Congress and SAD had boycotted the last two mayoral elections and only AAP had contested against the BJP.
In the MC elections in 2021, AAP had bagged 14 seats, BJP 12, Congress eight and the SAD one seat. The number of BJP votes in the House later went up to 14 as Harpreet Kaur Babla, the wife of former Chandigarh Congress vice-president Devinder Babla, joined the BJP. Councillor Gurcharanjit Singh Kala also left Congress to join BJP.
Both in 2022 and 2023, the BJP candidate won by just one vote after a vote was declared invalid due to various reasons. In 2023, Taruna Mehta had joined Congress after leaving AAP, thus changing the House composition again.
After the polls were announced last week, councillor Lakhbir Singh Billu left AAP and joined BJP. In return, councillor Gurcharanjit Singh Kala dumped the saffron party and joined AAP.
This will be the third term of the mayor, which is reserved for a scheduled caste councillor, in the current five-year MC. The first term is reserved for a woman candidate from general category, the second is for any candidate from general category, third for a candidate from SC category, fourth for a woman candidate from general category and fifth for general category. Seats for the senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor are not reserved.
Mayor Anup Gupta’s tenure had ended on January 16.
Trail of quotes:
“We are ready for the polls and are sure to win this time. We earnestly request the UT administrator to ensure transparency in the elections.” HS Lucky, Chandigarh Congress president
We request UT administrator to conduct polls in a peaceful manner and BJP to respect democracy. We are ahead in numbers and are now waiting for the results. The people of Chandigarh had chosen AAP and now we will win a per people’s mandate.” Dr SS Ahluwalia, Chandigarh AAP co-in-charge
We are confident of a win this time too. Jatinder Pal Malhotra, BJP Chandigarh president