Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday finalised the names of Rajinder Sharma and Baldev Balouria as candidates for the posts of Mayor and Deputy Mayor in the Jammu Municipal Corporation.
A decision in this regard was taken in a high-level meeting chaired by J&K BJP in-charge Tarun Chugh here at the party office, Trikuta Nagar, Jammu. The meeting was also attended by Member Parliament Jugal Kishore Sharma, former Deputy Chief Minister Kavinder Gupta, J&K BJP General Secretary (Organisation) Ashok Koul, former Mayor Chander Mohan Gupta, former Deputy Mayor Purnima Sharma, senior party leader Vivodh Gupta among other party leaders.
Pertinently, the polls for the posts of Mayor and Deputy Mayor would be held through the ballot paper system of polling on October 21 while the nominations would be filed on October 17.
Current position of JMC
Currently, there are 73 corporators in the 75 member Jammu Municipal Corporation as two of them, independent Vijay Choudhary and BJP’s Raj Rani, have passed away. BJP has 44 corporators followed by 14 independents and 13 Congress corporators.
In the last Mayor and Deputy Mayor elections held on November 15, 2018, Chander Mohan Gupta defeated independent candidate Vijay Choudhary. Gupta was polled 45 out of 75 votes. Meanwhile, Purnima Sharma, the former Deputy Mayor defeated Congress’ Charanjeet Kour in the last elections. She was polled 46 votes.
The fresh elections for the posts of Mayor and Deputy Mayor would be held on October 21 due to the resignation of former Mayor Chander Mohan Gupta and his deputy Purnima Sharma that was accepted on October 11, this year.
Who is Rajinder Sharma, the Mayor candidate?
Corporator from Ward Number 16, Prem Nagar, Jammu, Rajinder Sharma began his political career in 2002 in BJP as a booth level worker of the party. Gradually, he was made state in-charge of the social justice and empowerment cell of the party, state convenor of the election cell, district vice-president, state in-charge, election related matters; state office secretary and state secretary of the party.
Who is Baldev Balouria, the deputy mayor pick?
Corporator from Ward Number 56, Gangyal, Jammu, Baldev Balouria began his political journey as an RSS member. In 1991, he was elected as ward president of Gangyal.
Gradually he was elected as president Shopkeepers Association Gangyal, BJP Mandal General Secretary, Gandhi Nagar.
In 2001, he was elected as Sarpanch while in 2006 he was elected as Panchayati Raj president of the party. Between 2015-18, he was elected as District president of BJP while as in 2018, he was elected as Corporator from Ward Number 56, Gangyal, Jammu.
Besides Corporator, he was also the chairman of the public health and sanitation committee of Jammu Municipal Corporation and District Prabhari of Doda. It was under his able stewardship that a DDC chairman of BJP was elected in District Doda.
