AAP leads Chandigarh civic polls
AAP in first contest wins 14 wards, BJP 12, Congress 8, SAD 1
Chandigarh, Dec. 27: New entrant Aam Aadmi Party has emerged as the leading outfit in the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation polls, winning 14 of 35 wards in the final results declared on Monday.
The BJP, which enjoyed a majority in the previous MC House, came a close second registering win in 12 wards while the Congress bagged eight seats and the Shiromani Akali Dal one.
However, the Congress secured 29.79 per cent votes, highest of the three parties. The BJP got 29.30 per cent of votes while AAP got 27.08 per cent votes.
BJP leader and current city mayor Ravi Kant Sharma was
defeated by AAP’s Damanpreet Singh from Ward No.17 by a margin of 828 votes.
No party achieved simple majority. A party needs 19 votes to have its councillor elected as
mayor.
Delhi CM and AAP’s national convener termed the party’s success an indicative of coming change in Punjab, which is going to polls early next year.
On the election of mayor, AAP leader Manish Sisodia said they are ready to “welcome good persons of every party”.
AAP leader Raghav Chadha called his party’s performance a “trailer” before the Punjab Assembly polls.
Chandigarh is the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana.
This time, the number of wards in the city was increased from 26 to 35.
In the last MC elections, the BJP had won 20 seats and its erstwhile ally SAD one. The Congress had managed to win only four seats.
Traditionally, the municipal elections, held every five years, see a locking of horns between the BJP and the Congress, but the AAP’s entry made the contest this time triangular.
In the results declared on Monday, former mayor and BJP candidate Davesh Moudgil lost to AAP’s Jasbir by
939 votes from Ward No.
21.
In Ward No. 25, BJP Yuva Morcha leader Vijay Kaushal Rana was defeated by Yogesh Dhingra of AAP by a margin of 315 votes.
The ward was earlier represented by Chandigarh BJP president Arun Sood.
Among the prominent winners, Harpreet Kaur Babla of the Congress, wife of party senior leader Devinder Singh Babla, won with a margin of 3,103 votes, defeating Rashi Bhasin of the BJP in Ward
No.10. —