Mayoral elections, councillors’ swearing-in ceremony tomorrow

Ahead of the mayoral elections, which will be held on January 20, one more Congress councillor on Saturday joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), taking the total number of members to 48, the number required by AAP to prove majority for getting the Mayor elected in the House. Now, it will safely prove majority to get the Mayor from their party elected.

The ruling party on Saturday gained significant strength in the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation after Congress councillor Mamta Rani from Ward 41, along with several Congress leaders, joined AAP.

Punjab AAP president and Cabinet Minister Aman Arora formally inducted all leaders into the party and welcomed them.

Along with councillor Mamta Rani, senior Congress leaders Balwinder Singh, Mani Ram and Vishal Dhawan also joined AAP. They stated that they would work with dedication and commitment to propagate AAP’s pro-people policies.

The mayoral elections were postponed after the demise of Ludhiana West MLA Gurpreet Gogi. The swearing-in ceremony of the newly elected councillors and elections to the post of Mayor will now be held on January 20. All political bustle around the mayoral elections that had come to a halt is again gaining momentum as the parties got bonus time to set their cards right.

The Congress also got more time before the mayoral elections and was seen making every effort to win back councillors from the Aam Aadmi Party’s Gogi group. It was seen making effort to get the councillors back into the party who recently joined AAP but got a major setback with Mamta Rani joining the ruling party on Saturday.

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 had bagged three seats.

Earlier, Ratanjeet Kaur from Ward 1, Jagmeet Noni from Ward 42, Paramjit Kaur from Ward 45 and Jagadish Lal from Ward 6, BJP councillor Anita from Ward 21 and Independent candidate Deepa Rani Chaudhary from Ward 11 had also joined AAP.

Byelection for West seat in six months

Now, after the death of MLA Gogi, the Ludhiana West constituency seat has fallen vacant. An official notification regarding the seat being vacant has been issued and the Election Commission has been informed. The byelection for the seat will be conducted by mid-July, within six months.