CHANDIGARH: The stage is set for a battle royal between the ruling Congress and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party to wrest power in the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation elections due on Wednesday.

Interestingly, leaders of the Congress, the BJP-Shiromani Akali Dal combine and the Chandigarh Vikas Manch (CVM) are all claiming that they will get a majority in the House by winning most of the seats. However, the usual sound and fury was missing on the eve of elections thanks to strict implementation of the rules by the State Election Commission. Some residents of the City Beautiful even admitted that they were unaware that elections to 25 out of 26 seats were being held on Wednesday.

Election in Ward No. 7 was countermanded after the death of the BSP nominee; now polling there would be held on January 14. Even as senior BJP central leaders including former Union Minister Arun Jaitley and former MP Navjot Singh Sidhu besides Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi and former Himachal Chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal campaigned for the BJP nominees, Union Minister of State for Finance Pawan Kumar Bansal was the main campaigner for the Congress. However, Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Chander Mohan and Public Health Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala also campaigned for a few Congress candidates.

While the opposition parties including the BJP made inflation and price rise the main election planks to criticise the Congress besides highlighting acts of omission and commission of the five-year Congress control of the civic body, the Congress leaders asserted that the civic body had unleashed developmental activities in the city and truly made it more beautiful while being responsive to the needs of the citizens.

The opposition parties including the CVM, the Nationalist Congress Party and several others in the fray charged that the Congress had betrayed the people by imposing paid parking and property tax on commercial properties even though its election manifesto in 2001 clearly mentioned that it was opposed to imposition of such "taxes''.

Local Congress chief B.B.Bahl told The Hindu that the Congress would win at least 22 seats as there was no anti-incumbency factor at play in the Union Territory which is also the Capital of Haryana and Punjab. Moreover, the Congress stood to gain as the people were generally happy with the performance of the UPA regime at the Centre.

However, former BJP MP Satya Pal Jain asserted that there was a strong anti-incumbency wave and people were "angry'' over the massive increases in the prices of essential commodities after the UPA came to power. This would certainly bring the BJP back to power in the Municipal Corporation, he added. CVM chief Harmohan Dhawan too claimed that his party would gain majority as the Congress had not only failed to deliver the goods. Meanwhile, State Election Commissioner S.P.Marwah said 513 polling stations had been set up and 3,750 personnel deployed for poll duties. For the first time, polling would be conducted through electronic voting machines. Elaborate police arrangements have been made to ensure law and order. Counting will take place on Friday and the results will be declared the same day.

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