Election aspirants form long queues at MC office for NOC

Hundreds of aspirants for the civic body polls made a beeline to get an NOC from the Municipal Corporation at its office in Ranjit Avenue. The MC issued NOC to over 600 applicants till evening. Following the heavy rush of aspirants, Municipal Commissioner Gulpreet Singh Aulakh appointed superintendents area-wise to issue NOC to the election aspirants. He also asked them to sit in the main meeting hall, so that they do not face any inconvenience.

The elections for the Municipal Corporation are going to be held on December 21 and only two days are left for the filing of nominations. The NOC is one of the requirements for contesting the elections. There is a long queue of aspirants seeking NOC in the Municipal Corporation office since morning in view of the polls.

Till now, no political party has issued a list of its candidates. This time, four main political parties including the Congress, BJP, Aam Aadmi Party and Akali Dal are contesting the elections. A series of meetings is being held by these four parties to select their candidates. It is expected that the list of candidates will be released by this evening or tomorrow morning. With only two days left for the filing of nominations, candidates will have to face difficulties in filing their papers.

The ruling Aam Aadmi Party has received applications from 750 aspirants willing to contest elections from 85 wards of Amritsar while the Congress has received 450 applications and the BJP 425. All the aspirants willing to contest the elections approached the Municipal Corporation office to get the NOC. Yesterday, the MC had issued NOC to about 200 aspirants.

Municipal Commissioner Gulpreet Singh Aulakh said that in view of the increasing number of people seeking NOC since morning, five superintendents were appointed ward-wise. He said that for the convenience of the people, officers of all departments of the Municipal Corporation sat in the MC meeting hall to issue NOCs.