Rajinder nominated for post of Mayor, Baldev for Dy Mayor
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Oct 16: After announcing its candidates for the posts of Mayor and Deputy Mayor for Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) today, the J&K BJP has pulled its sleeves to file nomination papers for the same tomorrow while Independents Councillors are also preparing for the same and the Congress will only contest for the post of Mayor as none of its candidate has agreed to contest for the post of Deputy Mayor.
“Councillor of Ward number 16, Rajinder Sharma has been nominated as candidate for the post of Mayor while Councillor of Ward number 56, Baldev Singh Bilowria has been selected for the post of Deputy Mayor with consent of all,” informed Ravinder Raina, J&K BJP president adding that both these candidates will file their nominations tomorrow.
“All BJP Councillors are asked to reach the Trikuta Nagar BJP Headquarter by 12 noon and from there they along with senior BJP leaders will leave at 1 pm to file nomination papers for the posts of Mayor and Deputy Mayor,” he further said adding that the nomination form will be submitted before 2:25 pm.
The candidates for the posts of Mayor and Deputy Mayor were announced by senior BJP leader, Kavinder Gupta in a meeting chaired by BJP national general secretary and incharge J&K, Tarun Chugh.
Meanwhile, the Independent Councillors have nominated Councillor, Anu Bali of Ward 24 as candidate for the post of Mayor and Amit Gupta, Councillor of Ward 19 for the post of Deputy Mayor while Congress chief whip Dwarka Chowdhary will contest for the post of Mayor.
Though two Councillors-one from BJP and another Independent have died now while some including Independents have joined either BJP or Congress, the BJP still has 44 members in a House of 75 ensuring easy victory to its candidates while number of Independents is just 15 while Congress has presently 13 members as two Congress Councillors have left the party to join newly floated Democratic Azad Party.
Election for Mayor and Deputy Mayor is scheduled to be held on October 21 at 11 am by means of open ballot and the nomination papers for that were available in the office of JMC Secretary which after duly filled and signed by the candidates shall be delivered to the same office by or before October 17, from 10 am to 4 pm.
Many Councillors have expressed resentment against the open ballot system of holding elections for the posts of Mayor and Deputy Mayor.
They have termed it as murder of democracy and have suggested secret ballot system as per the norms of democracy for holding these elections.
The resignations of outgoing Mayor, Chander Mohan Gupta and Deputy Mayor, Purnima Sharma, both from BJP were accepted on October 12, before that in a meeting of J&K BJP at a Club in the city on September 24, they both had resigned from their posts 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.
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