In a major development, Punjab Government issued a notification on Tuesday which reserved the Mayor post of one Municipal Corporation for a woman councillor out of five that went under polls. For the unversed, five MCs went under polls on December 21, 2024, namely- Amritsar, Jalandhar, Phagwara, Ludhiana, and Patiala. The official notification was issued by Gurpreet Singh Khaira. Gurpreet Singh Khaira is the Special Secretary and Director of the Local Government Department in Punjab.
The notification stated that Ludhiana's Mayoral Post will be reserved for women. On the other hand, the notification further directed that the remaining Mayors of the other four MCs can have General (Open) councillors. Meaning, that other MCs can have male or woman Mayors, not necessarily from the SC/ST category.
It is pertinent to mention here that the Aap Aadmi Party (AAP) emerged as the single largest party in the Ludhiana MC Elections 2024. Out of 95 wards, AAP won 41, Congress won 30, BJP won 19, SAD won 2 and Independent candidates won 3. Notably, AAP is seven seats short of the halfway mark.
However, sources in the known development suggest that like Jalandhar, winning candidates of other parties may join AAP and push them to the majority mark in Ludhiana that is needed to secure the Mayor Post.