F&CC polls today, heavy lobbying witnessed

Hectic lobbying and preparations were witnessed for the election of the Finance and Contract Committee of the Municipal Corporation on Tuesday. The election that was to be held on Tuesday was postponed by the Mayor. It will now be held on January 30. With the stakes becoming high and the election being a close call, the candidates were busy seeking votes in their favour.

Congress city unit chief B B Bahl at a meeting attended by 12 Congress councillors divided themselves into two groups to ensure six votes each for the two candidates – Mukesh Bassi and Darshan Garg.

BJP councillors, who had been crying foul over the postponement of the elections, submitted a memorandum to the MC secretary. A meeting of the BJP members was also held later where the councillors were told which of the two candidates of the party they should cast their vote for. With the BJP-SAD alliance having 11 councillors, one of the councillors will get a vote more than the other. Arun Sood and Davesh Moudgil are the candidates of the party.

Mayor Subhash Chawla had postponed the meeting of the general house of the MC citing health reasons. The BJP leaders rued that to ensure the presence of Union Minister Pavan Kumar Bansal the meeting had been postponed.

There are a total of six candidates in the fray for the five seats in the F&CC. BSP candidate Jannat Jahan is also contesting. From among the nominated councillors, Sat Paul Bansal is the candidate. The nominated councillors have announced that all nine of them would vote for Sat Paul Bansal.

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