Panchkula: BJP councillor Suneet switches to Congress

Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) councillor Suneet Singla from Panchkula’s Ward Number 13 switched loyalties and joined the Congress in the presence of former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda in Rohtak on Sunday.

“I was feeling suffocated in the BJP. Now, I am in the right place,” said Singla, who had joined the BJP ahead of the MC elections in 2020.

A businessman, considered close to incumbent MLA and BJP candidate Gian Chand Gupta, Singla had gone on to win the election on a BJP ticket, securing 2,302 votes.

With elections for the post of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor awaited, Singla, as per party insiders, is said to have been promised one of the posts.

Reacting to Singla’s switch, Gupta said, “He would never let people from his ward meet me. His move to the Congress will make no difference to the BJP. In fact, we will benefit from his exit.”

Congress’ strength in MC House rises to 9

With the new joinee, Congress’ tally in the 20-member Panchkula municipal corporation House has increased to nine, equal to BJP’s nine councillors, while the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) has two councillors. Mayor Kulbhushan Goyal is from the BJP.

JJP was a coalition partner of the BJP, but the alliance was snapped before the parliamentary elections in March this year.

The elections to the posts of mayor and 20 councillors were held in 2020. They assumed charge in the first week of January 2021. As per Section 36 of the Haryana Municipal Corporation, and Sections 71 and 72 of the Election Rules, the elections for the posts of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor are to be held within 60 days after notification of the councillors’ election.

But fearing a rebellion in the party, the BJP had not announced any candidate for the two posts.

In April 2023, the urban local bodies department had written to the civic body authorities to hold elections for both the posts and sent the file to the mayor for fixing the date of the elections, but nothing moved on the ground.

Earlier this year, Congress councillor Akshaydeep Chaudhary had moved the Punjab and Haryana high court, seeking directions to the Haryana government “to immediately schedule and conduct the elections for the posts of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor”.

In response, the Haryana government had submitted that the elections for the two posts will be held on September 25.

Disposing of the petition, the high court had observed that in case the elections are not conducted as scheduled or postponed, the petitioner will be at liberty to seek redressal of his grievance.