AAP’s Inderjit Kaur elected first woman Mayor of Ludhiana
Inderjit Kaur has been elected as the first woman Mayor of Ludhiana. Rakesh Prashar named as the Senior Deputy Mayor while Prince Johar as Deputy Mayor. Finally, after two years, the city today got the House of the Municipal Corporation.
Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann announced the names in a tweet on X on Monday.
The Ludhiana seat was reserved for woman and since then, the names of Inderjit Kaur, Nidhi Gupta, Amrit Varsha Rampal and Maninder Kaur Ghuman were making rounds.
Inderjit Kaur is a first-time councillor and won the elections from Ward 13.
She is 37-year-old and has experience of over a decade in teaching. She holds a commerce degree, an MBA and a BEd. Earlier, she was serving as a principal at a private school. She is also the women wing’s president of AAP for Ludhiana district. Her husband is a businessman.
“I have been bestowed a great responsibility, hence, I will do my best to live up to the expectations of the people of my city,” she said.
She said stalled development works would be completed expeditiously and new plans be implemented to make the city beautiful and clean. She emphasised that keeping the city clean and providing basic amenities to the people were their top priorities.
Rakesh Prashar is a five-time councillor and a former Congress leader. He is the brother of AAP‘s Ludhiana Central MLA Ashok Prashar.
Meanwhile, the Congress announced Shyam Sunder Malhotra as the Leader of Opposition in the Ludhiana MC House. Deepika Bhalla as the senior vice leader and Harminder Pal Lally as vice leader.
Punjab Aam Aadmi Party president Aman Arora said today marks the beginning of a new chapter in Ludhiana as the AAP has given the city its first woman Mayor.
He said in the municipal elections held across the state, the Aam Aadmi Party has secured over 35 Mayor and president positions so far. He also remembered late AAP MLA Gurpreet Gogi and said it was his wish that the party should have a Mayor in Ludhiana with a full majority in the House.
The swearing-in ceremony of the councillors and the mayoral elections were held at Guru Nanak Dev Bhawan here on Monday. Later the Mayor, Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor paid obeisance at Gurdwara Dukhniwaran Sahib. Afterwards, they paid tributes to Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev at the Jagraon bridge and paid obeisance at Durga Mata Mandir as well. Later, they paid tributes to Dr BR Ambedkar at the Jalandhar bypass chowk. They also paid obeisance at Gurdwara Katana Sahib.
The elections to the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation were held on December 21. Of the 95 wards in Ludhiana, the ruling AAP had won 41 seats, Congress 30, the BJP 19, Shiromani Akali Dal two and Independents three seats.
The mayoral elections were earlier scheduled for January 14 but were postponed after the demise of Ludhiana West MLA Gurpreet Gogi.
Congress councillors Jagmeet Noni from Ward 42, Paramjit Kaur from Ward 45 Jagadish Lal from Ward 6 and Mamta Rani from Ward 41, BJP councillor Anita from Ward 21 and Independent candidates Deepa Rani Chaudhary from Ward 11 and Ratanjeet Kaur from Ward 1 joined AAP and with this, its number reached 48 and they were able to prove majority in the House.
Earlier, talks were also on between the Congress and the BJP to form the House but the BJP high command outrightly refused alliance with it and the Congress also lost its four councillors to AAP and its number shrunk to 26.
Gogi’s wife attends swearing-in
Late MLA Gurpreet Gogi’s wife Dr Sukhchain Kaur was also seen during the swearing-in ceremony. Aman Arora made sure that she was besides him throughout the event. Dr Sukhchain Kaur lost to INC’s Parminder Kaur Indi during the recent MC elections. Now, after the death of Gogi, the Ludhiana West constituency seat has fallen vacant. The by-election for the seat will be conducted by mid-July, within six months. Dr Kaur’s presence at Monday’s function has raised speculations if AAP is considering fielding her for the vacant seat.
