All set for triangular contest in 85 wards in Jalandhar
A triangular battle is on the cards among candidates of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party, Congress and BJP for the Jalandhar Municipal Corporation polls to be held tomorrow. A total of 380 candidates will vie in 85 wards. The administration today deployed staff and dispatched teams with EVMs and election material for all 677 booths in the city.
The Congress does not have a candidate on Ward no. 33 as Manmeet Kaur, wife of industrialist Sumit Sharma, had to drop her papers. The BJP does not have a candidate on two wards - Ward no. 65 where its candidate Anjali Gill could not file papers in time and Ward no. 62 where its candidate withdrew his papers. There are 31 candidates from SAD and 17 from the BSP too.
Independents have made the fight interesting in several wards. There are 80 candidates contesting independently, most of them being AAP rebels. There are several wards which have a higher number of contestants as in Ward no. 41 where there are eight candidates. There are three Independents in addition to a candidate each of the AAP, BJP, Congress, BSP and SAD.
From Ward no. 30, two-time councillor Raminder Kaur Dhindsa is contesting as an Independent on the symbol 'aeroplane' even though she is the wife of SAD's Jalandhar Central halqa in-charge Iqbal S Dhindsa. Asked about the reason, Iqbal Singh saidhis wife had won as an Independent councillor on previous occasions and she wanted to continue on the same pattern. She is contesting against Congress' Jasleen Sethi, AAP's new joinee Ajay Chopra and BJP's Bhupinder Jolly.
There also are three couples in the fray - two from AAP and one from the Congress. From AAP, former Mayor Jagdish Raja, his wife and Senior Deputy Mayor Anita Raja are contesting from Ward no. 64 and 65. The second AAP couple in ex-councillor Balbir Bittu and his wife Karamjeet Kaur from Ward no. 10 and 11. The third couple is Paramjot S Sharry Chadha and his wife Prabhjot Kaur from Ward no. 28 and 27.
District Election Officer-cum-Deputy Commissioner Dr Himanshu Aggarwal stated that voting will take place from 7 am to 4 pm on Saturday, followed by counting at polling stations. He appealed to voters to actively participate in the elections and cast their votes without any fear or intimidation.
A total of 2,916 employees have been deployed for election duty. Of these, 2,708 will handle duties for Jalandhar MC elections and 208 will be on duty for the elections of Municipal Councils Bhogpur, Goraya, Phillaur and Nagar Panchayats Bilga, Shahkot, and Mehatpur.
For security purpose during the elections, the police will deploy 3,404 personnel, including 2,469 for the Municipal Corporation elections and 935 men for the Municipal Council and Nagar Panchayat elections.
