Ludhiana municipal corporation polls: Parties sound bugle, start ‘ground work’

LUDHIANA: Elections to Ludhiana municipal corporation (MC) are expected in almost a month and the opposition parties have sounded the poll bugle in the city. Party leaders have started the field work and are approaching the voters to garner their support in the polls.
Parties believe ‘face value’ plays a rather important role in ward elections and every party wants to give the ticket to the most likeable candidate.City’s political pundits are projecting a tough fight between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), with the former leading the state government and the latter leading the Union government.
Parties say they’re now waiting for wards to be demarcated before they start regular campaigning.
BJP district president Rajneesh Dhiman said, “We are fully prepared for the MC elections as tickets will be announced once election dates are announced, but the interested candidates have already started working in the field. We are waiting for ward delimitation, and then can we decide our candidates.”
He claimed Ludhiana residents would prefer the BJP over the AAP, which he claimed had lost its ground among the voters. Meanwhile, former MLA and present district president of Congress party, Sanjay Talwar said, “At first, we are waiting for ward delimitation as under the pressure of ruling party MLAs, the officials are forced to declare even general wards in reserved category whereas most of the general category voters reside there. We will not let this happen as it will create bad impact on the city demography, which will not change for next five years.”
He said the Congress had decided on its candidates, but would only announce the names once poll dates are decided. Till then, they will do door-to-door campaigning, asking the residents about the problems they face, he added.
Former MLA from Shiromani Akali Dal, Ranjit Singh Dhillon also said they were waiting for the poll dates. The SAD is also yet to finalise how many seats they’ll be sharing with their ally, Bahujan Samaj Party in the elections. Dhillon said the party is thinking of choosing fresh candidates, this year.
The AAP is focused on giving chance to new faces,too.
National spokesperson of the AAP, Ahbaab Grewal said, “The emphasis will be on giving chance to the party volunteers who have been working hard with us for a long time, as we have to create a strong cadre now.”
He said they were still identifying possible candidates in various wards.
When asked about the opposition’s claims about the AAP losing its ground with the voters, Grewal said, “The government is working to streamline things in the state and the opposition parties are only trying to stop us.”