Phagwara mayoral poll put off amid ‘ruckus by AAP’

The mayoral elections in Phagwara were postponed today after a ruckus was created during a meeting convened for the purpose of administering oath to the councillors and holding the poll. Local Congress MLA Balwinder Dhaliwal and his party councillors alleged the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) disrupted the proceedings of the event in a pre-planned manner.

The councillors reached the PWD Rest House, the venue of the event, at 4 pm following which Jalandhar Divisional Commissioner Arun Sekhri administered the oath to the councillors in the presence of MC Commissioner Navneet Kaur Bal. After this, Sekhri asked AAP councillor Vipin Sood to preside over the event. The move, however, did not go down well with some AAP councillors, who got up from their seats and objected to Sood being given the role.

How parties fared

The Congress had 22 councillors in the 50-ward Phagwara Municipal Corporation.

Three councillors, who won on BSP tickets, have also lent support to the Congress. With the vote of its MLA Balwinder Dhaliwal, the Congress already had reached the magic figure of 26, even though it claimed support of some Independent councillors as well.

AAP had only 12 councillors winning on the party symbol. It claimed to have the support of two Independent councillors. It was also banking on the support of three Shiromani Akali Dal councillors and four of the Bharatiya Janta Party.

Aam Aadmi Party still fell short of five votes to win the mayoral elections.

Sood tried to pacify his party colleagues but they continued to raise slogans against him. At this, Sood announced to adjourn the meeting citing the atmosphere being not conducive for it. As the drama continued, Sekhri and Bal left the meeting, leaving 22 Congress councillors and their three supporting BSP councillors in a dismay.

Dhaliwal, who was confident of swaying the mayoral election in his party’s favour, said, “It all happened within minutes. It was all done with a prior planning so that AAP could get more time to get some councillors on its side. They have already been pressuring our councillors. They got three of our party workers, who are husbands of our women councillors, booked by the police a day ago. They have been resorting to all unfair means.” The legislator added, “But we will not let this happen again. They did not even let us propose any name for the posts of Mayor, Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor. Next time, we shall be carrying placards with the names of our mayoral candidates written on them so that the ruling AAP cannot resort to any new mischief.”

Neeraj Sharma, councillor and wife of Congress candidate for the post of Mayor Sanjeev Bugga, said, “It is for the first time that councillors of a party opposed each other in such a crucial meeting. Cops were deployed at the venue in strength, but officials did not use their service to resolve the matter. The reality is that AAP realised that it was in minority and could not have its candidate elected to the top post. Hence, it orchestrated the whole drama and got the election postponed to buy time to cause defections. But all our councillors are united.”

Congress Legal Cell incharge Karanjot Singh Jhikka said they would knock the doors of the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday to get justice.

AAP leader Joginder Mann said, “Though I was not anywhere in the meeting, I am told that the election could not be held because of some ruckus. The allegations of any pre-planning are baseless.”