latest chandigarh news

The Chandigarh BJP faces a challenging path in tomorrow's finance panel elections.

After two of its council members defected to the AAP, the BJP lost its majority in the 35-member House and now faces a formidable battle in the upcoming Chandigarh Municipal Corporation Finance and Contract Committee elections.

The BJP is running against alliance candidates from the Aam Aadmi Party and Congress, so these elections have become more significant. The Finance Committee has significant influence over important agenda items and discussions in the general assembly.

In order to maintain its standing against the BJP, the coalition needs to take three of the five seats up for grabs on the finance panel. The AAP-Congress coalition appears to have the advantage with 19 votes, 12 from AAP and 7 from Congress, compared to the BJP's 15 councillors.

The BJP would only receive 17 votes, short of the alliance's 19, even if they managed to secure the backing of SAD council member Kirron Kher and a member of parliament.

Since the AAP council members changed sides, the dynamics have drastically changed, removing the BJP's prior advantage. A senior BJP councillor is optimistic despite this, pointing to the possibilities for cross-voting and other uncertainty in the result.

The AAP's Jaswinder Kaur and Ramchandra Yadav, the Congress' Taruna Mehta, and the BJP's Maheshinder Singh Sidhu, Jasmanpreet Singh, and Lakhbir Singh Billu are the nominees for the financial panel.