MC elections: Cong, BJP begin process to finalise party tickets
Though the Municipal Corporation elections are likely to held by the end of December, the Congress and BJP have initiated the process of finalising party tickets for candidates. The District Congress Committee (Urban) office received 450 applications from aspirants for the ensuing MC polls. Senior leaders of the Congress claimed that 5-10 party activists have applied for a single seat. There are a total of 85 wards in the city and 50 per cent wards are reserved for women candidates. The activists of various parties have been displaying their flex boards and posters in their respective wards to stake their claim to party ticket.
The Congress had started the process of collecting applications for the party ticket in October 2023 as the government had announced to conduct elections after completing the delimitation of wards. But due to some court cases and Lok Sabha elections, the process was delayed. Now again, the state government has issued a notification to conduct elections in December. However, the schedule has not been issued yet but local politicians are of the view that the election could be held by the end of December or first week of January 2025.
Ashwani Kumar, district Congress president said, “Last year, when the government had announced the elections, we invited applications. We got around 450 applications. There are five to 10 aspirant for a single seat. Yesterday, I met the party president at Chandigarh and initiated the scrutiny of applications. We have closed all doors for turncoats. Anyone who left the party in the past, would not get the party ticket. We will come with young faces, who worked hard in their area.”
Meanwhile, BJP leaders are also inviting applications from party aspirants who didn’t apply last year. Harvinder Singh Sandhu, district BJP president, said, “We received over 400 applications last year. On Sunday, we held a meeting and decided that if someone wants to submit an application, then he or she may submit it at the party office. We will scrutinise it and announce tickets as soon the election schedule is announced.”
