header
Politics

Chandigarh Civic Polls: Dhaba Owner, Teacher, Homemaker, Farmer Among Winners

Many seasoned politicians from the Congress and BJP were defeated by political novices fielded by AAP, reflecting the changed political scenario on the ground in Punjab.

Listen to this article:

Chandigarh: Among the first-time councillors of ‘City Beautiful’ is a dhaba owner, a teacher, a farmer and a homemaker, who defeated many bigwigs of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as well Congress, including the sitting BJP mayor in Chandigarh civic polls.

The highlight of the election, in which BJP crashed from 80% seats it had won in 2016 civic polls to mere 34% seats now, was the victory of Damanpreet Singh, a dhaba owner and now a first-time Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor.

He defeated BJP’s sitting mayor Ravi Kant Sharma with a sound margin of 828 votes from the heart of the city in Sector 22 and Sector 23 (Ward Number 17).

He has been running an eatery – Sardarji Da Dhaba – in the Sector 22 market for over two years now.

Damanpreet Singh. Photo: Twitter/Damanpreet Singh.

Speaking to The Wire, he said, “For me, politics was never my cup of tea. I was loosely associated with Congress just because of my association with leader Pradeep Chhabra who happens to live in my Sector,” he said.

“I got agitated when the MC [municipal councillor] under BJP started targeting me with unnecessary challans just because I was a huge supporter of the farmers’ movement in Delhi and helping the movement in my little way,” said Damanpreet.

He said in the market where his eatery is located there are many dhaba owners, but only he was targeted during the farmers’ movement with challans from the sanitation department.

“This is when I realise I will have to fight the unjust system. When Chhabraji left Congress and joined AAP, I too joined with him. Later, the party reposed faith in me and that’s when I entered the poll fray against BJP’s sitting mayor,” he added.

“I kept my election plan simple, focused mostly on the issues that BJP’s mayor did not address despite representing the area as a councillor,” he said.

“My honest and clean approach is what made people vote for me and help me defeat BJP’s mayor,” said Damanpreet, who is now being hailed as a giant killer in the local AAP circle.

Happy with accolades from all top leaders of the party, he said, “I must thank AAP, which has promoted ordinary persons like me. I will now make sure that I live up to the expectations of people in my ward.”

Damapreet was also a wedding photographer till a few years ago. However, he had to open the dhaba for a living as he couldn’t sustain himself financially as a wedding photographer after the COVID-19 outbreak.

Women power

Neha Musavat, a teacher, is another first-time councillor from AAP, who defeated another bigwig, Congress’s former mayor Kamlesh, from the Industrial area and Ram Darbar (ward number 19).

She said that her uncle Dalip Kumar was associated with AAP for many years.

“He sadly died due to prolonged illness in February this year. I had no plan to join politics since I was happy being a teacher, teaching students at a private school. But then AAP leaders approached me and made me believe that there is a space for people like me in politics,” she said.

Neha Musavat after victory in Chandigarh civic polls. Photo: Facebook.

“Being a teacher, I made a commitment to myself that whether I win or lose, I will never compromise on my moral, ethical and professional values.”

Neha said, “I was never worried that I was fighting an election against a former mayor. I only highlighted problems that I faced in my day to day life. I interacted with people and got to know the issues they were facing. This is how I think people connected with me.”

She said the total expenditure on her whole campaign was not more than Rs 2 lakh and that too was funded by people. “I think people fought the elections and made me win.”

One of the important factors in AAP’s surprising win in Chandigarh civic polls was women power. Of the total 14 seats that AAP won, as many as seven were women.

A total of 12 wards were reserved for women candidates in Chandigarh civic polls. Of this, BJP could win only two seats while Congress won three. AAP got the lion’s share with seven wins and most of the winners were first-time contestants coming from ordinary backgrounds.

For instance, Poonam, winner of ward number 19 comprising Sector 25 Bhaskar Colony and neighbouring areas, is a housewife and mother of two.

Her husband is a dedicated AAP worker from the area. This is how the party gave her a ticket.

Suman, another housewife, won on AAP’s ticket from Manimajra area (warn number 4) by defeating BJP leader’s wife Savita Gupta.

She said she would not be a rubber stamp councillor. She would work on the ground for her ward’s development.

AAP’s Chandigarh convener Prem Garg told The Wire that while candidates were selected after several rounds of inner-party surveys, the party made sure that all party candidates were sincere, honest and hard-working.

“This finally paid us. Chandigarh voters were unhappy with BJP and Congress for long. Their misgovernance left the city ruined. That is why people voted for us,” he added.

Another major upset for the ruling BJP in the election was its poor performance in seats reserved for Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates. Out of the seven wards, BJP could register a win in just one seat.

‘Chandigarh never focused on villages’

Jasvir Singh Laddi. Photo: Facebook.

Another big killer of the election is Jasvir Singh Laddi of AAP who defeated BJP’s ex-mayor Davesh Moudgil. Laddi comes from a farmer’s family in Faidan village near sector 48.

He said before the city came into existence, there were small villages in and around, and Faidan was one of them, where his family was long associated with farming.

“But the problem with Chandigarh is that it never focused on villages and their development. There are families of several farmers who were yet to be fully compensated for their land acquired to build this city,” said Laddi.

“Even today, my village does not have proper piped water supply. Roads are in miserable condition. Councillors who represented my village hardly put in effort to better people’s lives,” he said.

He said his victory against BJP’s ex-mayor was a reflection of people’s anger against the traditional parties and their failure to better the civil infrastructure in villages.

“I have no experience in politics. I fought an election for the first time now. Drawing major inspiration from the farmers’ movement, I ensured that my positive campaign and honest approach made me win the election,” said Laddi.

He said his major focus now is to ensure that the city’s villages get adequate infrastructure.

“Chandigarh is famous as the country’s first planned city. But the condition of its villages is as worse as any other town. Chandigarh owes a lot to the villages on whose land the city came up. Therefore it is important that villages are developed at par with the facilities in Sectors,” said Laddi.


Latest