Chandigarh:
Polling percentage in the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation election on Monday jumped to a record 59.54 per cent, due to re-polling in a ward of the civic body after officials noticed some discrepancies. The re-polling in ward seven registered 71.48 polling, Tarseem Lal, an election office spokesman said here, adding that the overall poll percentage for the 26 wards was 59.54.
It was ordered after electoral officials noticed that the number of votes polled yesterday had exceeded the number of voters in a booth of the ward. The election to 26 wards of the Municipal Corporation is a litmus test for BJP and Congress post demonetisation. The fate of 122 candidates, including 67 Independents, will be known on Tuesday.
Since it’s inception, the polling in the civic body election had remained below 50 per cent.Prominent among those included three-time councillor and former Mayor Subash Chawala (Cong), BJP’s leader Saurabh Joshi and Congress stalwart Devinder Singh Babla and present mayor Arun Sood of BJP.
The results tomorrow will be test of prestige of key political faces MP Kirron Kher (BJP), former Chandigarh MPs Pawan Kumar Bansal (Cong), Harmohan Dhawan (BJP), Satya Pal Jain (BJP) and Chandigarh BJP president Sanjay Tandon.
All these political bigwigs have a key identity in Chandigarh, the results will somehow set their political future too, besides their current role in local politics.
All political bigwigs from Chandigarh intensively campaigned for their party candidates in the polls. The total number of voters are 5,07,627, including 2,37,374 female voters.
Both Congress and BJP contested all 26 wards, while BSP has also put up candidates in the fray from 17 wards. The Municipal Corporation has 36 members, of which 26 are elected councilors, nine are nominated councilors and one is an MP (ex-officio member of the House).
At present, BJP has 15 councilors, Congress has nine, BSP has one and one is Independent. While the BJP tried to cash in on demonetisation, Congress has made it a major issue with its city unit leaders saying the move was implemented without any “application of mind” as it has put the public to “great hardships”.
