The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) may have won 27 seats in the 50-ward Mohali Municipal Corporation, but electing the Mayor, Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor will not be an easy task with three prominent faces — Sarabjeet Singh Samana, Sunny Ahluwalia and Sukhdev Singh Patwari — aspiring for the top post.
Even as the government is yet to announce reservations for civic bodies, lobbying for the top post has begun. Three-time councillor Samana, son of Mohali MLA Kulwant Singh, is tipped to be a strong contender on the basis of the father-son duo clout over the winning AAP councillors and some Independents too. Kulwant Singh had a major say in picking candidates for the election.
Sukhdev Patwari, Sarabjeet Samana and Sunny Ahluwalia
As far as negotiations are concerned, the MLA has a proven track record on his side. The father-son duo spent Saturday thanking voters and party workers for the comprehensive mandate.
When asked about Mayoral candidate, Kulwant Singh kept the answer open-ended. He said, “People and you should judge who is the deserving candidate. Rest it is all the party’s decision.”
Samana won from Ward No. 42 by a margin of 458 votes.
State AAP general secretary and Water and Sewerage Board chairman Sunny Ahluwalia may be a first-time councillor but his clout in the party set-up is arguably the most among the three aspirants. Ahluwalia defeated former Deputy Mayor Manjit Sethi in Ward No. 6 by a margin of 269 votes. It was one of the keenly contested battles of the Mohali MC.
When asked about his aspirations regarding the top post, Ahluwalia said, “Every councillor who has won is in the race for the post of Mayor. Whatever the party decides is acceptable to me.”
Four-time councillor Patwari is the senior-most councillor among the three contenders. Patwari, who won from Ward No. 34 by a margin of 67 votes, is among the most dominant voices of AAP in the House meetings. During the last five years, he has led the opposition councillors whenever the Congress tried to have its way in the House. Besides seniority, Patwari claims to have a strong public connect and the ability to get the work done for his supporters when it comes to ‘crumbling’ civic amenities.
AAP will only have to look beyond these three candidates, probably a woman, if the government chooses to reserve the top post of the civic body. It is for the first time that 25 woman councillors have been elected to the House because of Punjab’s reservation policy.
Sidhu seeks repoll
Alleging irregularities during the Mohali Municipal Corporation elections, former Health Minister and senior Congress leader Balbir Singh Sidhu has demanded repolling at Booth No. 93 in Ward No. 23, Booth No. 7 in Ward No. 2 and Booth No. 17 in Ward No. 4.
Prominent losers
Among the prominent losers in the Zirakpur Municipal Council elections were former MC president Kulwinder Sohi (SAD), Harjit Minta, who switched from the Congress to BJP, and Yadavinder Sharma (SAD), brother of Dera Bassi MLA NK Sharma. Yadavinder lost to Rajinder Singh of AAP by a margin of 23 votes in Ward No. 19. Ranjit Kaur (SAD) from Ward No. 20 of Zirakpur MC, registered the biggest victory margin (996 votes) in the district.
