Chandigarh, December 27
The Chandigarh Municipal Corporation elections the results of which were declared here on Monday threw up a hung verdict even as the new entrant AAP made a major impact in the Chandigarh politics.
The AAP, which contested the MC poll for the first time, bagged 14 seats while the ruling BJP could manage 12 and the Congress remained third winning only eight seats.
SAD won a single seat. The majority mark is 18 seats.
Among the prominent losers were sitting mayor Ravi Kant Sharma, and former mayors Davesh Moudgil and Rajesh Kalia. All three BJP candidates were mayors in the current term of the party.
Former Congress mayor Kamlesh also tasted defeat.
Chandigarh Congress president Subhash Chawla’s son Sumit Chawla also lost. BJP president Arun Sood’s seat from where party’s Vijay Rana contested was also lost.
Though the AAP won the maximum seats, its election campaign committee chairman Chandermukhi Sharma lost his seat.
The richest candidate in the fray, BJP’s Anup Gupta, won from his seat. He along with his wife had declared Rs 45 crore assets during the nominations filed for the polls.
From the Congress, Devinder Singh Babla, leader of opposition in the MC House, showed his dominance. His wife Harpreet Kaur Babla contesting from a woman reserved seat won by the highest margin of 3,103 votes.
The AAP had promised freebies like free 20,000 litre water per month per house, free public parking lots, free door-to-door waste collection, free primary education and mohalla clinics. Clearing the waste dumping ground was also its promise.
It is believed that people were agitated with the ruling party over the issues of raised water, sewerage and parking lots rates. Covid cess and cow cess were also the issues often raised by the opposition. National issues like price rise also seemed to have affected the party.
Anti-incumbency seems to have gone in favour of the AAP instead of the Congress. Other than the BJP it is also a big blow to the opposition Congress which was eying a comeback in the MC.
