All is set for the triangular contest in 85 districts in Jalandhar

There is a three-cornered fight between candidates from the ruling Aam Aadmi Party, Congress and BJP in the Jalandhar Municipal Corporation elections to be held tomorrow. A total of 380 candidates will compete in 85 districts. Today, the administration deployed personnel and dispatched teams with EVMs and election materials to all 677 booths in the city.

Congress has no candidate for ward no. 33 as Manmeet Kaur, wife of industrialist Sumit Sharma, was forced to surrender the documents. BJP has no candidate in two wards – ward no. 65 where its candidate Anjali Gill failed to file on time and Ward no. 62, where her candidate withdrew his documents. There are 31 candidates from SAD and 17 from BSP as well.

Independents have made the fight interesting in several wards. There are 80 candidates contesting independently, most of them AAP rebels. There are a few wards that have a larger number of members like ward no. 41, where there are eight candidates. Apart from AAP, BJP, Congress, BSP and SAD candidate, there are three independents.

From Ward No. 30, two-time councilor Raminder Kaur Dindsa is contesting as an independent candidate on the “airplane” symbol, although she is the wife of Jalandhar state central halka chairman Iqbal S. Dindsi When asked about the reason, Iqbal Singh said that his wife had won as independent counsel in previous cases and she wanted to continue in the same pattern. She is contesting against Congress’s Jasleen Sethi, AAP’s new member Ajay Chopra and BJP’s Bhupinder Jolly.

Three pairs are also in the fray – two from AAP and one from Congress. From AAP, former Mayor Jagdish Raja, his wife and Senior Deputy Mayor Anita Raja are contesting from Ward #1. 64 and 65. The second AAP couple in the form of ex-councilor Balbir Bittu and his wife Karamjit Kaur from constituency no. 10 and 11. The third pair is Paramjot S. Sharry Chadha and his wife Prabhyot Kaur of Ward No. 10. 28 and 27.

District Electoral Officer and Deputy Commissioner Dr Himanshu Aggarwal said voting will be held from 7 am to 4 pm on Saturday, followed by counting of votes at polling stations. He urged voters to actively participate in the elections and cast their votes without fear or intimidation.

A total of 2,916 workers were involved in election duty. Of these, 2,708 will be officiating in the Jalandhar elections and 208 in the municipal council elections of Bhogpur, Goraya, Philaur and Nagara Panchayats of Bilga, Shahkot and Mehatpur.

For security during the elections, the police will recruit 3,404 men, including 2,469 for the Municipal Corporation elections and 935 men for the Municipal Council and Nagar Panchayat elections.