Hours before the Jalandhar Municipal Corporation meeting, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Saturday stretched its lead to 50 bolstering its position to secure the top three posts. Jalandhar MC's meeting has been called for the first time after the conclusion of Punjab Civic Body Elections 2024 on December 21. As per sources in the known development, four more councillors joined the Aam Aadmi Party on Saturday pushing its lead in the Jalandhar MC to 50.
On Friday evening, Davinder Pal Kaur, wife of Simerjit Malik, who won from Ward Number 85 of Jalandhar North joined AAP. This had stretched the party's lead to 46. For the unversed, AAP emerged out to be the single largest party winning 38 seats in the Jalandhar MC Elections. Thereafter, AAP secured the majority mark of 43 after multiple councillors including from BJP, Congress, and Independent joined the party.
AAP has been bolstering its position in the Jalandhar MC so that the top three posts i.e. Mayor, Senior Deputy Mayor, and Deputy Mayor will be from their party. While the majority mark is 43, the increased number of 50 will give an extra cushion to the Aam Aadmi Party if any kind of cross-voting takes place while electing Mayor, Senior Deputy Mayor, and Deputy Mayor.
Sources have informed True Scoop that AAP has finalised Vaneet Dhir's name as Jalandhar's new Mayor. Vaneet Dhir was among the top faces of AAP for the Jalandhar MC Elections 2024. He won from Ward Number 62 by more than 4000 votes. The AAP candidate defeated Congress's Sanjeev Dua quite comfortably. Sources further suggest that Karamjeet Kaur of Ward Number 11 and Malkeet Singh of Ward Number 38 are likely to be elected as Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor's post respectively.