This February, Chandigarh hit the national headlines for mere mayoral polls. The provoked interest and unpredictability around the constituency hasn’t died down ever since. Along with dozens of keenly-awaited electoral battles spread across the nation, there is one scheduled in Chandigarh during the last phase of polling.
Senior Congress leader Manish Tewari gears up to face a fight by BJP candidate and first-timer Sanjay Tandon. Local, door-to-door, micro campaigning forms a significant part of the campaign of both contestants. If a local resident gets an automated phone call asking them to vote for Tandon, then on the other hand Tewari can be seen doing foot marches and meet & greets with resident welfare associations (RWAs).
However, insiders believe that pressure is extreme on both. While Tewari, a joint candidate under the INDIA bloc, represents both AAP and Congress, Tandon has been chosen over Chandigarh senior BJP leaders. Nearly two weeks after Tewari was declared as the Lok Sabha aspirant from the Chandigarh constituency, did the INDIA bloc show its support for him.
On the other hand, reportedly, several senior leaders from city BJP units have stayed away from Tandon’s campaign events and activities. One of the significant faces being former Chandigarh MP Satya Pal Jain, including Kirron Kher who has stayed away citing health reasons.
Pulling all the Chandigarh connections
When the candidates and political parties get down to mud-slinging, personal attacks and bitter exchange of words, that’s when it seems that the stakes are high and the patience low.
During a recent media interaction, while responding to the label of “constituency hopper” by local BJP members, Tewari reminded everyone that he was born and brought up in the city and even started his political journey with the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) as a student of Department of Laws, Panjab University.
A couple of days ago, during an interaction with the legal fraternity, including several senior lawyers and retired judges, Tewari emphasised how the institutions, which had been the pillars of democracy during the last seven decades, were under serious threat under the current regime.
He also said that the survival of the Constitution is at stake. “India is India because of its Constitution and the tradition of democracy, free judiciary, free media, and free and fair elections,” he said emphasising that the governments come and go but the way the ruling party was attempting to change the Constitution was a cause of concern.
War Of Words
The infamous mayoral polls have not been wiped out from the public memory as yet. Tewari, while slamming Sanjay Tandon, said that his opponent should know we are fighting Lok Sabha elections and not MC elections.
Also questioning his performance, he said, “When the BJP had its MP and Mayor in the city, Tandon was the local unit president. What did he do for the city?” Tandon on the other hand, attacked the Congress party during a local interaction at BJP’s Uttarakhand Cell. “Congress wants to play appeasement politics. They have made it clear in their manifesto that if their government is formed, they will go for the hard earned money of the countrymen in the guise of inheritance tax,” he said.
Sanjay Tandon, born and brought up in Amritsar, has also been labeled as an outsider by Tewari. “If this is the argument, then he should question himself first as he belongs to Amritsar.” Further taking a dig at Tandon, Tewari questioned his association with Anil Masih, the Presiding Officer who invalidated opposition’s votes in the mayoral poll.
Taking to social media platform X, Tewari wrote, “Who is Anil Masih?” Tagging Sanjay Tandon, the post further reads, “Wherever I go in Chandigarh, people tell me he is a close associate of yours. Is it true?”
It was after much deliberation that Tewari’s candidature from the lone Chandigarh parliamentary seat was announced.
The sitting MP from Anandpur Sahib and lawyer Manish Tewari received the party ticket over other hopefuls like former Chandigarh MP Pawan Kumar Bansal, Chandigarh Congress President Harmohinder Singh Lucky. Tewari has also represented Ludhiana constituency from 2009 to 2014.
On the other hand, Sanjay Tandon was given a party ticket after the clamour for a local candidate grew louder. He is a businessman with a firm that deals in auditing and consulting, apart from other things.
Tewari is a senior fellow of the prestigious global think-tank Atlantic Council, which is based in Washington.
The Union Territory of Chandigarh goes to polls during the last phase of elections on June 1 with roughly 6,47,291 registered voters.
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