AAP, INLD to contest Pkl civic polls on party symbols

Panchkula: Political activity picked up ahead of the proposed municipal corporation elections in Panchkula, with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) Tuesday announcing that they will contest the polls on their respective party symbols.Addressing the media in Panchkula, Haryana AAP president and Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Gupta said the party will contest on the ‘broom' symbol. He alleged that corruption in the civic body and gaps in civic services had become key concerns for residents.
Gupta said issues such as sanitation, garbage collection, drinking water supply, tree maintenance and the state of govt schools required urgent attention. He also raised concerns regarding law and order, drug abuse, women's safety, healthcare and education.AAP appointed Haryana vice-president Gurpal Singh as district incharge for Panchkula and Sukhbir Malik as election incharge.The INLD also announced it will contest the polls on its ‘spectacles' symbol. INLD's Panchkula district urban president and state treasurer Manoj Aggarwal said the decision was approved at a meeting chaired by party leader Abhay Singh Chautala in Chandigarh. Aggarwal said the party's state executive meeting in Hisar discussed strategy, and a committee will be formed to select candidates for mayoral and ward seats. He added that the party may consider aspirants from outside the organisation as well.Election incharges will be appointed for all three municipal corporations going to polls, and senior leaders and workers will be deployed in the campaign. The elections are expected in late March or early April.In the last mayoral election, the BJP's Kulbhushan Goyal defeated Congress candidate Upinder Kaur Ahluwalia by 2,057 votes. The BJP and its then ally, the Jannayak Janata Party, together secured a majority in the 20-member House, winning 11 seats. Congress won seven seats, while two seats went to Independents.