MC elections: Nomination filing process begins in Karnal, major parties yet to announce candidates

The nomination filing process for the MC elections began from Tuesday, but major political parties, including the BJP, Congress, AAP, INLD and JJP, have yet to declare their candidates. All eyes are now on the candidate announcements from the major parties.

The BJP has a long list of ticket aspirants, while the Congress is still in the process of collecting applications. In Karnal Municipal Corporation (KMC), the BJP ticket aspirants for the Mayor and councillors’ posts, as well as those eyeing chairpersons and councillors post in Indri, Nilokheri and Assandh are actively lobbying for nominations. They are approaching their leaders for their tickets. Some are claiming that their tickets are confirmed and would win by a huge margin.

Seventeen aspirants have applied for the Mayor’s post. The list includes former Mayor Renu Bala Gupta, former minister Shashipal Mehta’s son Sanjeev Mehta, former Senior Deputy Mayor Krishan Garg and his son Monik Garg, former Senior Deputy Mayor Rajesh Aghi, former district president Ashok Sukhija, along with Anup Bhardwaj, Mukesh Arora, Yogesh Bhogra, Nishant Kumar Shanu, Bharat Bhushan Kapoor, Vinay Poswal, Yogesh Gupta, Manoj Gupta, Asha Goel, and Rajinder Dadupur. Besides, over 155 aspirants have applied for councillor positions across 20 wards in KMC.

Similarly, the BJP has received applications from seven leaders for the Indri chairperson’s post, six for Nilokheri and five for Assandh. Sources within the party claim that the scrutiny process has been completed, and the official candidate list will be announced soon. They claimed that a meeting in this regard has been held in Delhi.

Meanwhile, in the last two days, five ticket aspirants have applied for the Congress Mayor ticket, while around 50 have submitted applications for councillor positions in KMC’s 20 wards. Congress’ Karnal urban convener, Pankaj Gaba, said the party would finalise its candidates within the next couple of days. “The Congress will contest the MC elections with full energy and secure victory,” he asserted.