CHANDIGARH: In a significant move, both the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Congress have allied and will contest the Chandigarh Mayoral elections together on January 18.
This development comes amid both parties which are constituents of the INDIA bloc holding talks over seat sharing for this year's Lok Sabha polls.
The mayoral polls in Chandigarh are going to be a two-way contest and political analysts believe that the two parties will have an edge over the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The mayor will be from AAP, while the posts of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor will contested by the Congress.
Confirming this development former union minister and senior leader of the Congress Pawan Kumar Bansa told the New Indian Express, "It is the beginning of the end of the BJP era."
"The talks of the alliance between different parties including Congress and AAP at the INDIA block are going to the national level and it will depend upon state to state and how the talks progress but in Chandigarh, we have scripted," he added.
Bansa also added that the ongoing discussions under the INDIA bloc in Delhi over the past have almost led to a consensus between both parties and BJP is likely to face defeat both in the mayoral elections and in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
When asked if there would be an alliance between both parties for the lone Lok Sabha seat from Chandigarh, Bansal it is still early to say anything.
When asked about the alliance between both parties in Punjab Bansal said, "The feedback from the state unit has been taken and it values a lot of the party high command and keeping in all factors and sentiments the decision will be taken.’’
If both parties win the mayoral elections, they will have less than three months to spearhead significant development initiatives in Chandigarh to strengthen their position for the Lok Sabha seat.
At present out of the total 35 councillors in the municipal corporation 14 are of BJP, 13 of AAP and seven of Congress and one vote of member of parliament Kirron Kher as ex-officio member.
In the December 2021 MC elections, AAP won 14 seats the highest in the corporation followed by BJP 12 and Congress eight and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) one seat.
But in May 2022, AAP councillor Taruna Mehta joined the Congress, reducing AAP’s numbers to 13. While on January 10 this year, another AAP councillor, Lakhbir Singh Billu, joined the BJP further reducing the strength of AAP but on January 13, Gurcharanjit Singh Kala of the saffron party switched to AAP.
Meanwhile, the lone SAD councillor, Hardeep Singh said that he would go as per the directive of the party's high command. In the 2022 and 2023 mayoral elections, Congress had abstained from voting thus BJP candidates won.
Elections for the three posts are held every year during the five-year term of the House. This year, the mayor’s seat has been reserved for the Scheduled Caste (SC) category.
BY: Harpreet Bajwa