Gogia unanimously elected Patiala Mayor

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor Kundan Gogia was elected Mayor of the Patiala Municipal Corporation (MC) on Friday.

Harinder Kohli was elected Senior Deputy Mayor while Jagdeep Jagga is the new Deputy Mayor. All three office-bearers were elected unanimously.

AAP state president Aman Arora along with Dr Balbir Singh, Barinder Goyal, MLA Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra and councillors congratulated the newly elected office-bearers of the MC.

“When a dedicated volunteer like Kundan Gogia is entrusted with the leadership of a city like Patiala, it shows the faith AAP has in its members,” Arora said.

The AAP registered a landslide victory in the recent Municipal Corporation elections, winning 43 out of 53 seats in the Patiala MC. Across Punjab, AAP emerged victorious in 522 out of 977 wards, The party's opponents — Congress, BJP and SAD — were confined to only 30% of the wards, while Independent candidates secured around 15%.

Arora said eight Municipal Councils elected AAP candidates as president, senior vice president and vice president. These councils included Cheema, Mallanwala, Narot Jaimal Singh, Ghanaur, Ghagga, Sanaur, Devigarh and Makhu.

He added, “The responsibility of Patiala’s development is now in trusted hands. I am confident that under Gogia's leadership, Patiala will witness unprecedented growth and progress.”

The AAP leader kept the media away from the elections process in order avoid controversy or coverage of any public resentment by AAP leader over the appointment.

Even after coming out of the House, the leaders remained in denial mode and claimed that it was the decision of the high command and no one opposed the move.

“Our action and intentions are clear. All the development works will be conducted on priority basis which include road carpeting and repair, maintenance of park, cleaning sewerage garbage collection. Ensuring 24/7 access to clean drinking water, reducing pollution, developing state-of-the-art parking facilities, implementing modern waste management solutions and revamping urban infrastructure. May motive is overall development. No preferential treatment would be given to a particular ward. I am a mayor of entire Patiala city not of a particular area.”