Ludhiana civic polls: Shiromani Akali Dal leaves ex-mayors in lurch

Ludhiana: The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has announced 47 candidates for the elections to Ludhiana Municipal Corporation along with equal number of candidates fielded by its ally, the BJP, just one more candidate (from Ward No 42) remains to be finalised for which a tug of war is on between various contenders, media reports said.

Of the 47 candidates announced by the SAD, the outgoing Ludhiana mayor Harcharan Singh Gohalwaria and his predecessor Hakam Singh Giaspura are conspicuously absent.

According to sources, Gohalwaria had pushed his own candidature earlier for Ward No 44 where Meetpal Singh Dugri, a lieutenant of former minister Bikramjit Singh Majithia, secured the party ticket. 

After that incident, Gohalwaria wanted the ticket for himself from Ward No 42 and lobbied hard to get his wife nominated from Ward No 41. However, the party leadership has not obligated to him.

Meanwhile, Gohalwaria had been rebuffed, when his candidature from Ward No 44 of Ludhiana Municipal Corporation polls was ignored and the SAD chose Meetpal Dugri instead of him. Dugri was the former zonal head of the SAD's student wing — Students Organisation of India.

According to reports, the SAD candidate from Ward No 42 might be placed in a piquant situation. The candidate might be required to contest from a BJP's ticket, if the senior partner of NDA sticks to an informal decision of the coordination committee that both parties would field 47 candidates each and the 95th nominee would be treated as a “joint” candidate – the candidate belonging to one party would contest on the other party’s symbol.