Chandigarh: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday announced its candidates for the Chandigarh mayoral elections, naming Saurabh Joshi as its nominee for mayor. Jasmanpreet Singh has been fielded for the post of senior deputy mayor, while Suman Sharma will contest for deputy mayor. All three have filed their nomination papers.
The Aam Aadmi Party announced it would contest the elections independently. Making the announcement, AAP’s Punjab in-charge Jarnail Singh said the party would not enter into any alliance with the Congress. AAP also declared its candidates for the three posts.
Soon after, AAP councillor Ramchandra Yadav rebelled and filed his nomination as an Independent candidate for the deputy mayor’s post. Alleging selective action by the party, Yadav said cross-voting by three councillors in the previous mayoral election was not dealt with adequately, leading to mistrust within the party ranks.
Notably, Yadav’s nomination papers were signed by Congress senior deputy mayor Jasbir Bunty as the covering councillor, along with councillor Darshan. Sources said Yadav and a woman councillor had earlier skipped a trip to Rupnagar along with other AAP councillors.
The Indian National Congress has also announced candidates for all three posts. Candidates have only one day to file nominations, with the deadline set for 5 pm on Thursday.
This will be the first time the Chandigarh mayoral election will be held through a show of hands instead of a secret ballot. However, it is yet to be clarified whether the voting will take place in the House or in a closed-room setting.
