Ahmedgarh Municipal Council gets president after 18 months

Having remained without a regular chief for over 18 months, Vikas Krishan Sharma of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was unanimously elected president of the Ahmedgarh Municipal Council today.

However, the election process for the post of vice president was cancelled on technical grounds.

Ahmedgarh SDM Gurmit Bansal said a meeting was called for filling posts of MC president and vice president in compliance of orders received from Malerkotla Deputy Commissioner Dr Pallavi.

“As only one name was proposed and seconded for the post of president, Vikas Sharma was declared elected unanimously,” said Bansal, maintaining that election for the post of vice president was cancelled on technical grounds.

Vikas Tandon, who was unanimously elected chief of the council during the Congress regime with the support of then MLA Surjit Singh Dhiman, was dethroned from the office by passing a no-confidence motion on 16 February, 2023.

Around 30 months after the constitution of the AAP government, residents have now seen a ray of hope for resumption of development works in the town as Sharma would now be able to implement development projects under the guidance of Amargarh legislator Jaswant Singh Gajjanmajra, who is also an associate member of the council.

The factionalism among councillors owing allegiance to various parties, including the ruling party, Congress and the SAD, resulted in a situation wherein the council waited for 18 months to get a regular president.

Though the administration had called a meeting for the election of president and vice president earlier, the same had been staggered due to the unavailability of a convener.

The arrest of council’s associate member and legislator Jaswant Singh Gajjanmajra by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) around ten nine months ago had also disrupted the pace of development works in the town.

Following a series of meetings between MLA’s wife Dr Parminder Kaur and son Rubal Gajjanmajra, and various factions of councillors, a consensus on the candidature of Vikas Krishan Sharma was arrived today morning.

Meanwhile, the newly-elected president’s mother and wife believe that coming true to the expectations of the residents was a joint responsibility of their family.

Identifying adequate supply of water, solid waste management and sewage disposal as the topmost challenges for the civic body, the duo said they would try to rope in women for spreading awareness about judicious use of water and production of garbage.

Sharma’s mother Neelam Sharma is confident that coordinated efforts by councillors, led by her son and supplemented by enthusiastic contribution by families of colleagues, would help the council to transform the town into a model locality with all facilities available in the area.

“As we are come from a middle-class family that has faced all hardships, we can comprehend expectations and needs of the common people more easily,” she said, claiming that her son has been trained to swim against the stream.

Sharma’s wife Nitasha called upon the office-bearers of various social, religious and educational organisations of the town to remain connected with their respective councillors to ensure the development of all localities.

“Instead of leaving all matters to the president and his colleagues, residents should give their suggestions either directly to the councillors of their respective wards or through office-bearers of social organisations,” said Nitasha.