3 months gone, Bathinda yet to get new Mayor

Three months have gone and Bathinda is yet to get its new Mayor after former Finance Minister Manpreet Badal-backed Raman Goyal lost the trust motion passed against her by Congress councillors after Manpreet Badal left the Congress and joined the BJP.

After Congress councillors passed the no-confidence motion against her and removed her from the Mayor’s chair, she filed a plea in Punjab and Haryana High Court against it. In August, the High Court rejected her plea, making way for the election of the new Mayor. Since then, Congress leader and Senior Deputy Mayor Ashok Kumar is working as acting Mayor.

Bathinda District Congress Committee president Rajan Garg said it is the state government’s decision to hold the mayoral election and it is a delay on part of the government only which is not holding the mayoral poll.

AAP MLA from Bathinda Urban, Jagroop Singh Gill, said a letter from MC Bathinda Commissioner has already been sent to the state government for holding the mayoral election. “I think soon the election will be held,” he said.