F&CC poll on Aug 25; AAP backs sons of 2 MLAs again, BJP fields Ruchi Gulati
The battle for the two vacant seats of the Municipal Corporation’s Finance and Contracts Committee (F&CC) has intensified ahead of Tuesday’s General House meeting, with the ruling AAP backing Aman Bagga and Yuvraj Sidhu again while the BJP has fielded Ward 73 councillor Ruchi Gulati and the Congress has already nominated Ward 26 councillor Gaurav Bhatti.
The election has become politically significant as the two seats are being filled after the earlier nominations of Aman Bagga, son of MLA Madan Lal Bagga, and Yuvraj Sidhu, son of MLA Kulwant Singh Sidhu, was challenged by the Opposition. The High Court subsequently directed that the two councillor members be elected from among the councillors under Section 42(4) of the Punjab Municipal Corporation Act.
The ruling party’s decision to back the sons of the two MLAs again has also caused some unease within the AAP camp. At a meeting of AAP councillors, some members are learnt to have raised the question over the decision to repeat the nominations. There is also uncertainty over the attendance of some councillors at Tuesday’s meeting.
The numbers make the contest interesting. The House has 48 AAP councillors, 26 Congress councillors, 19 BJP councillors and two SAD councillors. With two seats at stake, the ruling party does not have enough numbers to take both seats for granted if the Opposition coordinates its voting strategy.
BJP district president Sunil Moudgill said: “We have fielded Ruchi Gulati as our candidate and already made a strategy and will definitely win a seat in the committee members election.”
AAP MLA Central Ashok Prashar Pappi said: “We have fielded Yuvraj Sidhu and Aman Bagga with the consent of all councillors and party leaders and we will win both seats in the Tuesday’s election”.
Shyam Sunder Malhotra, leader of Opposition from the Congress, said: “We have already fielded Gaurav Bhatti as our candidate and AAP leaders are convincing their own councillors to come with full attendance as they have again fielded the sons of two MLAs as candidates”.
Focus on voting process
The MC has made elaborate arrangements for the election in view of the controversy surrounding the process. The meeting will be held at Guru Nanak Dev Bhawan at 11 am on Tuesday. An office order issued by the MC, in compliance with the High Court directions, has assigned officials to ensure smooth conduct of the meeting and continuous videography.
According to MC officials, 12 CCTV cameras will cover the proceedings. Six videography personnel have also been deployed to record the election process, including the voting and counting. A mock exercise was conducted to check the arrangements. Complete recording is to be preserved as part of the official MC records.
The MC has said every councillor will get an equal opportunity to vote. The voting is expected to be through a show of hands, followed by counting to determine the two successful candidates. However, the method of voting has itself become a point of contention, as 45 councillors from the Congress, BJP and SAD had earlier sought voting through ballot papers.
The presence of MLAs during the voting has now emerged as another major issue.
Congress councillor and candidate Gaurav Bhatti has written to the Municipal Commissioner, seeking that MLAs and other influential political persons of the ruling party should not be allowed inside the voting area. He has argued that since the sons of two ruling-party MLAs are themselves candidates, their presence could create apprehension among the councillors about political pressure or monitoring.
