Chandigarh: Mayoral polls approaching, councillors ‘offered’ big deals
Sandeep Rana
Chandigarh, December 19
With the Mayoral polls approaching, councillors are allegedly being wooed with big offers that include huge cash and houses in posh areas.
Certain councillors have been offered Rs 30-50 lakh, a residential floor in a posh Airport road housing society or chairmanship of a board/corporation in Punjab or Haryana. A councillor has even been promised a government job for son in a neighbouring state, sources revealed to Chandigarh Tribune.
Mayor’s Post reserved
Since the post of Mayor has been reserved for an SC candidate this time, the ruling BJP will have no choice as it has only one SC councillor, Manoj Sonkar. AAP has four of them, Kuldeep Dhalor, Neha, Poonum and Lakhbir. The Congress, which has two SC councillors, said to have made up its mind to go with Jasbir Singh Bunty.
Polls in early Jan
The polls to elect third Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Senior Deputy Mayor of the current MC term are scheduled to be held in early January.
These unethical offers are being made to councillors to switch sides so as to impact the outcome of the polls. Some councillors have been told if they do not deem it fit to leave their party, they may cross-vote, for which they would get Rs 15 lakh, the sources added.
A leader said in the last elections, a party had asked a councillor, who had recently joined it, to click a picture of his ballot and Aadhaar card with his mobile and send it to them as proof that he had voted for the party’s candidate. Though it is not allowed to carry mobile phones while voting, many councillors bring two phones. They place one of the phones outside the ballot box chamber, which is mandatory, while carry the other one inside.
Similar offers were made in the last Mayoral polls also. Councillors had gone on record giving statements of getting calls from parties offering them cash or lucrative positions in lieu of cross-voting or joining their party.
“The previous Mayoral polls were more important as the Punjab Assembly elections were around the corner. Stakes are high this time too in view of the coming Lok Sabha polls. The outcome has a bearing on wining perception and positive atmosphere for the LS polls,” said a senior party leader.
Meanwhile, all contesting parties denied having made any such offer. So far, both the Congress and AAP are claiming they would fight separately. In case, both decide to fight unitedly under the banner of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, it could be a blow to the ruling BJP, which had seen its Mayors in 2022 and 2023 in the current five-year MC term.
