JMC-G bypolls: Mayor aspirants of Cong, BJP to file papers today

Jaipur: Both BJP and Congress councillors of JMC-Greater held hectic parleys with their leaders on Thursday, the first of two days earmarked for filing nominations for the mayor’s post, but neither party revealed the name of its mayoral candidate till late in the evening. The last date for filing nominations is Friday.
BJP called all its councillors to the party office in the city on Thursday afternoon and took them to a hotel outside the city by bus. The BJP councillors said this was part of a routine training camp.
“Since only a year and a half of the current state government’s term is left, this training camp was organised for all our councillors to give them tips on connecting with the locals and resolving their issues. This will help us prepare better for the upcoming Assembly polls. This has nothing to do with the by-poll for the mayor’s post in JMC Greater. We are sure of getting over 100 votes in this by-poll,” said JMC Greater deputy mayor Puneet Karnawat.
Sources said BJP has four tentative names including acting mayor Sheel Dhabai, and the final names will be released on Friday.
Congress leader and minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas also held a meeting with the party’s councillors on Thursday evening to decide on the mayoral candidate, but the party released no name.
“Even though our numbers are less, Congress will contest the mayor elections. We are yet to finalise the candidate. The name will be released after discussions with the party high command. Some BJP councillors have also contacted us, and we are preparing for the by-polls,” said Khachariyawas after the meeting. Congress spokesperson Manoj Mudgal said, “We are contesting the elections. There are two tentative candidates, but the final decision is yet to be taken. We will file the nomination papers on Friday.”
In the 150-member JMC Greater, BJP has 90 councillors, and Congress has 53. There are seven independent councillors while four have been dismissed.
As per the poll schedule, nominations will be filed on November 3 and 4, and scrutiny of nomination papers will be done on November 5. Candidates can withdraw nominations till 3pm on November 7, and voting will take place on November 10 from 10am to 2pm. Votes will be counted immediately after polling is over.