Swearing-in ceremony, mayoral poll postponed
The swearing-in ceremony of the newly elected councillors followed by the General House meeting in which election to the post of Mayor was to be held have been postponed due to the demise of Ludhiana West AAP MLA Gurpreet Bassi Gogi. The next date for the meeting has not been finalised yet.
Earlier, the swearing-in ceremony was scheduled for January 14.
Ludhiana North MLA Madan Lal Bagga said it had been decided to postpone the mayoral election in Ludhiana, keeping in view the death of MLA Gogi.
“His death has sent shock waves in the party and we are yet to overcome the irreplaceable loss. It has now been decided to conduct the Mayor election after the bhog ceremony of Gogi. The next date for the mayoral election is yet to be decided. It will be announced soon,” Bagga said.
On Friday, AAP had reached the mark of 47 members. Ahead of the mayoral election, four more councillors had joined the party and earlier, two councillors had joined the ruling party. With this, AAP had reached the number 47. They were still one short of halfway mark of 48 to prove their majority but with all the seven MLAs belonging to AAP, they could have comfortably declared their majority. If MLAs vote, 52 votes would be required to prove majority and after new joining, AAP had reached the number 54. After the demise of the Ludhiana West MLA, the number has now turned to 53.
“The Mayor will be elected after the oath taken by all councillors and the ceremony stands postponed due to the MLA’s demise. Gogi was a dear friend and will be deeply missed. Ludhiana politics will never be same without him and his death has created a void that can never be filled,” said Ludhiana Central Constituency MLA Ashok Prashar.
Ludhiana has 95 wards and AAP had won 41 seats, Congress 30, BJP 19, Shiromani Akali Dal two and Independents three seats.