With 40 out of 70 JMC seats, saffron brigade has the upper hand in mayoral election

With majority in the Jaipur Municipal Corporation (JMC), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will decide the next mayor of the Pink City. The saffron party has 40 seats out of total 70 in the municipal corporation.

As the Rajasthan Municipalities Ordinance-2008 has lapsed, now the residents of the city would not elect their mayor directly. It would be the parties, the BJP and the Congress, which would decide on to field their mayoral candidates to fight in the Jaipur Municipal Corporation (JMC) mayor's election scheduled for March 6. The 70 councillors of the JMC would cast their vote to elect the mayor.

The veteran councillors of the BJP and Congress are seeing this new development as a silver lining. The election of mayor by JMC councillors has initiated a new battle among the veteran party workers, who want to be mayor.

Ashok Pandya, current chairman of finance committee while presenting his candidature, said, "When the BJP was launched on April 4, 1980 in Delhi, I attended the convention and raised my hand for the approval of a separate party. I am not a new party worker. But, it would be a call of the party. The party would select the candidate for mayoral post," said Pandya.

Another potential candidate for the post Sohan Lal Tambi, who has been associated with the party for the past few years and sanitation committee chairman, is also projecting himself as a mayoral candidate. "I will put my efforts but it would be the party's call. The party would decide on the candidate and ask the councillors to vote in his favour."

But, Pankaj Joshi, who is acting mayor, is being considered as a strong candidate for the post. He was deputy mayor when Ashok Parnami was the mayor. Joshi said, "Anybody can project himself as a candidate for mayoral post. But, we should wait for the party's decision."

Besides, the Congress would also field its candidate in the mayoral election. But, it would be hard for the party as they are in minority in the corporation. Congress councillor Girraj Khandelwal said, "It is up to the party. The party would select its mayoral candidate."

Numbers game

BJP has 40 councillors Congress has 23 councillors There are 7 independents

DNA Correspondent/ DNA-Daily News & Analysis Source: 3D Syndication