Protest, boycott by Cong; media disallowed
Sanjeev K Sharma
JAMMU, Oct 21: Amidst protest and boycott by the entire Congress against the ‘open ballot’ system for holding elections of Mayor and Deputy Mayor to Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC), these much awaited elections were held today resulting in thumping victory of the candidates of BJP thereby paving the way for Rajinder Sharma, Councillor of Ward number 16 (New Plot area) to bag the coveted seat of Mayor and Baldev Singh Billowria, Councillor of Ward number 56 (Gangyal area) to get that of Deputy Mayor.
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With full support of all the Independents Councillors to BJP candidates, a total of 59 votes were polled in all for the post of Mayor and out of these, Rajinder Sharma got 57 whereas his opponent Dwarka Chowdhary of Congress representing Ward number 46 (Sanjay Nagar area) got only one vote despite a boycott by the entire Congress while one vote was declared invalid.
Similarly, out of a total of 58 votes polled in all for the post of Deputy Mayor, BJP’s Billowria got 56 and his opponent Sonika Sharma of Congress representing Ward number 30 (Talab Tillo area) drew blank while two votes were declared invalid.
Though two Councillors-one from BJP and another Independent have died now while some including Independents have joined either BJP or Congress, the BJP had 44 members in a House of 75 and Congress only 13 members as two of the Congress Councillors have left the party to join newly floated Democratic Azad Party while all the remaining were Independents.
The elections were held in a peaceful atmosphere wherein the authorities concerned had put restrictions on entry of the media to cover the event.
“JMC Secretary, Parminder Kour has asked us to not allow journos enter the Conference Hall of JMC (venue of these elections),” an official at the very entrance of the Hall told scribes from different news organizations.
In an embarrassing development for the authorities at the helm, Prof. Yudhvir Singh, Independent Councillor representing Ward number 73 (Bhour Camp area) wrote ‘death of democracy’ on his vote slip before putting the same in ballot box to express his resentment against open ballot system which he claimed was a clear violation of the norms of democracy.
While counting the votes, the concerned officials termed a vote as invalid on technical grounds saying it was not stamped properly.
On this, Prof. Singh rose to say: “The stamp was very much proper on my vote but I have written ‘death of democracy’ on it that is why you are declaring my vote invalid as a face saving exercise.”
Similarly, during the election for Deputy Mayor, he wrote ‘death of democracy confirmed’ as the Professor was, this time, expressing his resentment against not allowing the media to cover the elections.
Independent Councillor Ashok Singh Manhas who later embraced BJP presided over the election for Mayor while the newly elected Mayor, Rajinder Sharma presided over the election for Deputy Mayor.
While BJP J&K president, Ravinder Raina assisted the newly elected Mayor, Rajinder Sharma take the coveted seat of JMC Mayor, senior BJP leaders Kavinder Gupta, Sham Chowdhary, Yudhvir Sethi, Priya Sethi and Surinder Chowdhary were also present on the occasion.
Earlier, before the start of elections, Congress Councillors led by their Chief Whip Dwarka Chowdhary staged a protest demonstration outside the Conference Hall of JMC and raised slogans against the open ballot system.
“This is death of democracy. The BJP is scared of losing elections of Mayor and Deputy Mayor that is why they have opted for open ballot as secret ballot might have pushed their candidates to taste the defeat,” Dwarka Chowdhary told reporters.
Congress Councillors-Rajni Bala, Bhanu Mahajan, Rajinder Singh Jamwal and others were present in the protest.
These elections were necessitated after the resignations of outgoing Mayor, Chander Mohan Gupta and Deputy Mayor, Purnima Sharma, both from BJP, at a meeting on September 24, 2022 as their tenure of two and half years, which was set at the time they both assumed their offices, was over much before, but they were allowed to continue due to COVID-19 pandemic.
Chander Mohan Gupta and Purnima Sharma were made Mayor and Deputy Mayor respectively on November 15, 2018 and after completing its mandatory tenure of five years the term of the elected urban local body will be complete next year.
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