Cong will not contest Haryana municipal polls on party symbol

POLLING FOR THE 28 MUNICIPAL COMMITTEES AND 18 MUNICIPAL COUNCILS WILL BE HELD ON JUNE 19

CHANDIGARH: The Congress party on Tuesday decided not to contest upcoming municipal committee and municipal council elections in Haryana on party symbol even as nominees of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will enter the fray on party symbol.

Polling for the 28 municipal committees and 18 municipal councils will be held on June 19 and results will be declared on June 22. The nomination filing exercise that began on May 30 is ending on June 4, while scrutiny of nomination papers will be done on June 6. June 7 is the last date for withdrawing candidature.

To chalk out the party’s poll plan, senior leaders of state Congress went into a huddle in Chandigarh. Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) president Udai Bhan, Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda, party affairs in-charge Vivek Bansal, Tosham MLA Kiran Choudhry and Rajya Sabha MP Deepender Hooda were among those present in the meeting.

The Congress MLAs of the assembly constituencies where the poll will be held were also present in the meeting. “Congress has decided to contest the municipal council and municipal committee elections without the party symbol. This decision was taken after a thorough discussion,” the HPCC president said, adding that earlier also, they had contested such polls without party symbol. “But Congress will fight the municipal corporation elections, whenever they are declared, on party symbol,” Bhan added. Hooda said contesting the upcoming polls without party symbol is a well-thought out decision of party.

BJP poll panel to finalise candidates

Meanwhile, the BJP has convened a meeting of its poll panel on Wednesday to finalise names of candidates. In a surprise move, the BJP has decided that it will not contest the polls in question in an alliance with the JJP. As it will be a direct election of chairmen of all 28 municipal committees and 18 municipal councils, the BJP has decided that its nominees for the post of chairmen will enter the fray on party symbol. The BJP has left it to the local leadership to decide whether or not the ward members’ election should be contested on party symbol. The JJP, which had earlier hoped to fight these polls in alliance with the BJP, on Tuesday released the first list of eight candidates for the post of chairmen of municipal committees and councils.

“The JJP is fulfilling its coalition ‘dharma’ with complete honesty. In a democratic set up, every political party has the right to take independent decisions aimed to ensure its bright political future,” the JJP’s national president Ajay Singh Chautala said in Sirsa while responding to a question about BJP deciding to go solo in the civic body polls.

“When the coalition government was formed, the Opposition parties were claiming that BJPJJP alliance will last just 15 days. Let me reiterate that our coalition is firm,” he said.