AAP to contest all three posts for Mayoral election slated for January 29

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has decided to field candidates for mayor, senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor in the Mayoral election slated for January 29. After a meeting of its top leadership, the party has yet to announce its nominees, but sources say the candidates will file their nomination papers this afternoon.

Among the AAP contenders for mayor are councillors Yogesh Dhingra, Jasbir Singh Ladi, Damanpreet Singh, Hardeep Singh and Ram Chandra Yadav.

Meanwhile, the BJP’s core committee is huddled to finalise its slate, with Mahesh Inder Singh Sidhu, Saurabh Joshi, Kanwarjeet Singh Rana and Dalip Sharma in the running for mayor. On the other side, Congress councillors are meeting to decide whether to pursue an alliance with AAP, though many within the party are opposing any tie‑up.

The contest has become interesting as after two former AAP councillors, Suman Sharma and Poonam, switched to the BJP, the saffron party now holds 18 seats. Presently, Congress has six councilors and AAP has 11 in the house. The member of parliament also has one vote. Now, both ruling party BJP and Opposition parties have equal 18 votes each which make the election interesting in case both AAP and Congress forge alliance.

To win the election of Mayor, a party needs 19 votes.

Also, this year’s mayoral election will be decided by a show of hands rather than the secret ballot used previously.