Demonetisation fails to stop the saffron brigade march in Chandigarh civic polls

CHANDIGARH: In an indication that demonetisation has failed to stop the saffron brigade march, atleast in the civic polls, the ruling BJP-Shiromani Akali Dal alliance on Tuesday registered a sweeping victory in the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation elections. BJP had contested on 22 seats, while SAD was given 4 seats.

The victory has emboldened the allies - BJP and SAD in Punjab, that goes to polls in February 2017. demonetisation did take the sting out of the Akalis campaign in Punjab, thats fighting heavy anti-incumbency after ruling state for ten years in a row. With a sweeping victory in Chandigarh- capital of Punjab and Haryana, SAD-BJP got a shot in the arm, before the Assembly polls.

While the BJP won 20 of the 26 seats, the SAD and an Independent bagged one seat each. The opposition Congress, which had banked on the effect of demonetisation, won only four seats, down by five seats as compared to last year.

Polling for 26 wards was held on Sunday, with 122 candidates in the fray.

Prominent among those who won were BJP Mayor Arun Sood and Congress stalwart Devinder Singh Babla. The overall polling percentage in the election was 59.54 per cent.

A total of 122 candidates, including 67 Independents, contested. The total number of voters were 5,07,627, including 2,37,374 women.

Both the Congress and BJP contested all 26 wards, while the BSP put up its candidates on 17 wards.

The MC has 36 members of which 26 are elected councillors, nine nominated and one is an MP (ex-officio member of the House).

In the last House, the BJP had 15 councillors, Congress nine, BSP one and one was Independent.