After Gurugram, Faridabad MC poll postponed

After Gurugram, the elections for the posts of Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor have been postponed in Faridabad also. While municipal officials claim it is due to administrative reasons, sources said the lack of consensus between the camp of MLA Vipul Goel and MP Krishan Pal Gurjar had lead to a roadblock.

Even after getting full majority in the Faridabad MC elections, the BJP ministers could not reach a consensus on the name of the Senior and Deputy Mayor on Monday. They refused to agree on the name of Ajay Baisla, believed to be a supporter of Gurjar, for the post of Senior Deputy Mayor.

A series of meetings went on for six hours on August 12 , but after the two factions refused to budge, the election observer, Krishan Lal Panwar, postponed the poll. One faction comprises Cabinet ministers Vipul Goel and Rajesh Nagar, while the other comprises Gurjar and Moolchand Sharma (Ballabhgarh), Satish Phagana (NIT) and Dhanesh Adalkkha (Badkhal).

Gurjar's faction reached the corporation's auditorium with its councillors, but Goel and Nagar stayed at the party office in Sector 15 with some of their councillors. BJP Mayor Praveen Batra stayed away from the auditorium.

The observer and his assistant Kamal Yadav held a meeting with all the councillors and ministers from the party office. According to sources, Gurjar named BJP councillor Ajay Baisla from Ward No. 29 for the post of Senior Deputy Mayor, and Ravi Kashyap from Ward No. 3 for the post of Deputy Mayor. But Goel and Nagar opposed the name of Baisla. The biggest reason for opposing Baisla is that in 2024, Nagar was fielded by the BJP but Baisla had opposed him in Tigaon.

Gurjar is stated to have the support of 29 councillors. Elections were held in 46 wards for the posts of councillors, of which 39 were won by the BJP, six by Independents and one by the Congress.