Chandigarh Mayoral poll: Why Congress, SAD skipped voting

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 8

With much at stake in Punjab and to keep its flock together, both the Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) abstained from voting in the mayoral elections.

The Congress had won eight seats, but a few days ago, its councillor Harpreet Kaur Babla joined the BJP. The party was left with seven seats while SAD has a lone councillor.

It seems both parties had sensed they had no chance of winning as a party needed 19 votes to prove majority. Secondly, both AAP and the BJP are their rivals in the coming Punjab Assembly polls.

Supporting any party or cross-voting might have harmed the Congress and SAD. Thus, playing safe, both parties abstained from voting.

City Congress president Subhash Chawla said, “We sought the support of the BJP and AAP for getting our mayoral candidate elected as we had the highest vote share. They did not respond. Both parties are rivals in other parts of the country as well. So, we did not come for voting. We had apprehensions of horse-trading and we saw that in voting today.”

Councillor and city SAD president Hardeep Singh said, “We have no alliance with the BJP or AAP. So, we did not come for voting. The public has mandated SAD to sit in Opposition, and we will do that.”