Ludhiana: Ahead of the Ludhiana municipal corporation House meeting scheduled for August 25, preparations have begun as opposition political parties meet to select their candidate for the Finance and Contracts Committee (F&CC).The Congress party finalised councillor Gaurav Bhatti from Ward Number 26 as its candidate during a meeting led by Leader of Opposition Sham Sunder Malhotra. Congress councillors backed Bhatti because he previously filed a high court writ petition challenging past F&CC appointments, which cleared the path for electing two members to the committee.Malhotra stated the decision was aimed at safeguarding the opposition’s democratic representation. “The fight was not for any individual but to ensure the constitutional and democratic representation of the opposition in the Municipal Corporation,” Malhotra said. He urged opposition councillors to unite across party lines to strengthen their collective voice, transparency, and accountability within the civic body.Meanwhile, the BJP core committee is finalising its candidate name. The frontrunners under consideration are Pallavi Vinayak, Ruchi Vishal Gulati, Gauravjit Singh Gora, Bhavnit Kaur and Anil Bhardwaj.A BJP functionary confirmed that a formal announcement will follow their decision, alongside a strategy to ensure their candidate secures an F&CC seat.The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), which holds two council seats, has not yet picked a side. SAD’s Ranjit Singh Dhillon urged the Congress and BJP to put forward a single candidate, warning that running separate candidates would allow the ruling party to win both seats. He suggested that if the two parties cannot agree on a single candidate, an Akali Dal councillor should be nominated as the joint opposition candidate.In a related development, Bhatti visited the MC’s Zone A office near Mata Rani Chowk to inquire about the meeting’s agenda. He claimed that the agenda should have been issued 72 hours prior on Friday, given the weekend closure. Bhatti alleged that the ruling party intentionally delayed circulating the agenda to prevent the opposition from filing court challenges if any rules were bypassed.However followed by resentment shown by the Bhatti, the MC officials issued the resolution for the house meeting. Bhatti was asking about the house agenda in time for discussion. The officials issued him the copy when he threatened to start another legal battle against authorities. The house meeting is scheduled for August 25 at Guru Nanak Dev Bhawan where two members of finance and contracts committee will be elected. The officials mentioned about high court orders and other process to be followed in the house meeting agenda.
