Stage set for UT mayoral polls

CHANDIGARH: The battle has finally begun for the upcoming mayoral poll scheduled on January 12 as candidates of the Congress and the BJP filed their nomination papers on Saturday.
As expected, Asha Jaswal will contest on the BJP ticket while Gurbax Rawat is Congress candidate. For the posts of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor Rajesh Kumar Gupta and Anil Dubey will BJP candidates while the Congress has fielded Sheela Phool Singh and Ravinder Kaur, respectively, for the same.
Joint municipal commissioner-cum-secretary Captain Manoj Khatri (retd) received nomination papers of all six candidates from both political parties in his office. Now, the scrutiny of the papers will be done by the office and mayoral poll will be held on January 12.
Though it was a holiday, the civic body office witnessed huge rush of supporters belonging to both political parties.
The victory of BJP candidates looks certain as the saffron party is in full majority in the 35-member house with the Congress has merely four candidates. The candidate for each post needs atleast 19 votes in their favour to win.
Asha Jaswal's has won the councillor election consecutively and has been chosen the second time. She is also an office bearer in the BJP's national wing and considered one of Chandigarh BJP chief Sanjay Tandon's closest aide, while Rajesh Gupta, who won third time in row, had defeated Subhash Chawla of the Congress, a two-time Chandigarh mayor. Dubay has won with the election with a margin of over 9,000 votes and has been awarded the candidature of deputy mayor.
For graphic
Post----------------------------------BJP candidates----------Congress candidates
Mayor-----------------------------Asha Jaswal----------------Gurbax Rawat
Senior deputy mayor--------Rajesh Gupta----------------Sheela Phool Singh
Deputy mayor-----------------Anil Dubey------------------Ravinder Kaur