Chandigarh Municipal Corporation

Municipal Corporation Chandigarh
Type
Type	Municipal corporation of Union Territory of Chandigarh
History
Founded	May 24, 1994 (1994-05-24)
Leadership
Mayor	Kuldeep Kumar, AAP since 20 February 2024 [1]
Senior Deputy Mayor	Kuljeet Sandhu, BJP since 4 March 2024 [2]
Deputy Mayor	Rajinder Sharma, BJP since 4 March 2024 [3]
Municipal Commissioner	Anindita Mitra, IAS
Structure
Seats	45 (35 elected + 1 member of parliament + 9 nominated)
Political groups	Government (19) I.N.D.I.A (20)   AAP (12)   INC (7 + 1 MP vote Manish Tewari) [4] Opposition (15)   BJP (15 councillors) [5] [6] Others (1)   SAD (1) Nominated (9)   NOM (9)
Length of term	5 years
Elections
Last election	24 December 2021
Next election	December 2026
Meeting place
New Deluxe Building, Sector 17, Chandigarh
Website
chandigarh.gov.in

The Municipal Corporation Chandigarh (MCC), also known as Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, is the civic body that governs the city of Chandigarh, the capital of Punjab and Haryana. ^{[7] [8] [9] [10]}

History

The Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh, India was formed within the Union Territory of Chandigarh under the Punjab Municipal Corporation Act in 1976. The corporation was later extended to the union territory, Chandigarh, by the Punjab Municipal Corporation Law (Extension to Chandigarh) Act, 1994 (Act No.45 of 1994), which came into effect on 24 May 1994. Under a provision of Section 47 of the act, M.P. Tyagi was appointed as the first Commissioner of the Corporation w.e.f. on 19 June 1995. Tyagi continued to exercise mayoral powers until 23 December 1994, when the first meeting of the elected body of the Corporation was held. Tyagi was succeeded as Commissioner by S.K. Gathwal on 8 August 1996. ^[11]

In the Municipal Corporation, BJP candidate Arun Sood defeated Congress' Mukesh Bassi by 21–15 votes for the post of Mayor, while BJP's Davesh Moudgil and SAD's Hardeep Singh defeated Congress' Darshan Garg and Gurbax Rawat for the posts of Sr. Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor, respectively, in the Municipal Corporation's mayoral polls in January 2016. ^[12]

After the 2016 Chandigarh Municipal Corporation election in January 2017, BJP's Asha Kumari Jaswal was elected as the mayor, BJP's Rajesh Kumar Gupta and Anil Dubey were elected as senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor respectively. In January 2019, Mayor elections, BJP candidate Rajesh Kumar Kalia was elected as the Mayor by defeating the independent candidate Satish Kainth by securing 16 votes out of the total 27 votes. ^[13]

Ravi Kant Sharma served as Mayor of Chandigarh till 2021 ^[14] upon succeeding Raj Bala Malik. ^[15]

2021 Chandigarh Municipal Corporation election was held on 24 December 2021. Sarbjit Kaur was elected as the Mayor of the civic body after the elections.

Mayor

The mayor is the head of the Municipal Corporation. Of the five-year term of the Municipal Corporation, Office of the Mayor, for the first and fourth years, is reserved for women. ^[16]

List of mayors of Chandigarh

S. No.	Name	Party	Term
1.	Kamla Sharma		23 December 1996 – 22 December 1997
2.	Gian Chand Gupta		23 December 1997 – 22 December 1998
3.	Kewal Krishan Addiwal		23 December 1998 – 22 December 1999 [17]
4.	Shanta Hit Abhilashi		23 December 1999 – 22 December 2000
5.	Raj Kumar Goyal		23 December 2000 – 21 July 2001
6.	Gurcharan Dass (acting)		22 July 2001 – 17 August 2001
7.	Harjinder Kaur		18 August 2001 – 22 December 2001
8.	Lalit Joshi		1 January 2002 – 31 December 2002
9.	Subhash Chawla		1 January 2003 – 31 December 2003
10.	Kamlesh		1 January 2004 – 31 December 2004
11.	Anu Chatrath		1 January 2005 – 31 December 2005
12.	Surinder Singh		1 January 2006 – 31 December 2006
(7).	Harjinder Kaur		1 January 2007 – 31 December 2007
13.	Pardeep Chhabra		1 January 2008 – 31 December 2008
(10).	Kamlesh		1 January 2009 – 31 December 2009
(11).	Anu Chatrath		1 January 2010 – 31 December 2010
14.	Ravinder Pal Singh		1 January 2011 – 31 December 2011
15.	Raj Bala Malik		1 January 2012 – 31 December 2012
(9).	Subhash Chawla		1 January 2013 – 31 December 2013
16.	Harphool Chander Kalyan		1 January 2014 – 5 January 2015
17.	Poonam Sharma		6 January 2015 – 7 January 2016
18.	Arun Sood		8 January 2016 – 31 December 2016
19.	Asha Kumari Jaswal		12 January 2017 – 8 January 2018
20.	Davesh Moudgil		9 January 2018 – 18 January 2019
21.	Rajesh Kumar Kalia		19 January 2019 – 9 January 2020
22.	Rajbala Malik	Bharatiya Janata Party	10 January 2020 – 7 January 2021
23.	Ravi Kant Sharma	Bharatiya Janata Party	8 January 2021 – 7 January 2022
24.	Sarabjit Kaur	Bharatiya Janata Party	8 January 2022 – 16 January 2023
25.	Anup Gupta	Bharatiya Janata Party	17 January 2023 – 30 January 2024
26.	Manoj Sonkar	Bharatiya Janata Party	30 January 2024 – 18 February 2024
27.	Kuldeep Kumar	Aam Aadmi Party	20 February 2024 - Incumbent

Composition

According to the Municipal Corporation Chandigarh's website, the Corporation is composed of the following members:

1	"Members to be directly elected, representing wards." [11]	35
2	"Members with voting rights to be nominated by the Administrator, from amongst the people who are eminent of distinguished in public affairs or those who have special knowledge or practical experience in respect of municipal administration." [11]	10
3	"The Member of the House of the people representing the constituency which comprises wholly or partly, the Municipal Area, with the right to vote. (Member of Parliament from Chandigarh)" [11]	1

Administration

The Commissioner is the apex of the municipal administrative hierarchy that runs its administration. He is a senior government official (usually an I.A.S officer) and is appointed by the Central government. He is the chief executive officer who is responsible for the passing and implementation of the annual Municipal Corporation budget, its policies and programmes. All personnel of the Municipal Corporation work under the Commissioner's supervision and control. ^[18]

The current Municipal Commissioner of the Municipal Corporation Chandigarh is Anindita Mitra. ^[19]

Chandigarh being a city-state, and a Union Territory does not have a legislative assembly of its own, even though it hosts the legislative assemblies of two states Punjab & Haryana, being a common capital of both states. It has its own Municipal Corporation (MCC), which acts as the local governing authority of the City Beautiful (Chandigarh). The MCC is one of the most powerful local authorities in the Republic of India as it serves both as a regional and local authority.

Departments

Public Health Department	Planning & Building Branch
Health & Sanitation Department	Horticulture Department
Building & Roads Department	Fire and Emergency Services Department
Electrical Department	Finance & Accounts Department
Legal Department	Pensions & P.F.Department
Audit Department	Urban Poverty Alleviation & Livelihood Cell
Architecture Department	Estate Department
Booking Department	Public Relations Department
Enforcement Department	I.T. Department
Agenda Department	Taxation Department
Paid Parking Department

Composition of MCC House

This section is transcluded from General House of Municipal Corporation Chandigarh. (edit | history)

Contesting the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation elections for the first time, Aam Aadmi Party won 14 seats and became the single largest party in the council of total 35 elected seats. ^[20] Sitting mayor Ravi Kant Sharma from BJP lost his seat to AAP candidate Damanpreet Singh. ^{[21] [22]}

Composition of Chandigarh Municipal Corporation after 2021 Chandigarh Municipal Corporation election.

Chandigarh Municipal Corporation (April 2022)

Party		Seats won	Seats +/−
	Aam Aadmi Party	14	14
	Bharatiya Janata Party	12	8
	Indian National Congress	8	4
	Shiromani Akali Dal	1

Two Congress members defected to BJP after election.

Composition of Chandigarh Municipal Corporation (July 2022)

Party		Seats
	Aam Aadmi Party	14
	Bharatiya Janata Party	14
	Indian National Congress	6
	Shiromani Akali Dal	1
	Nominated	(vacant)
	Member of Parliament	1

Current members

Ward No.	Councillor [21] [22]	Party		Note
1	Jaswinder Kaur		AAP
2	Maheshinder Singh Sidhu		BJP
3	Dalip Sharma		BJP
4	Suman Devi		AAP
5	Darshana		INC
6	Sarbajit Kaur		BJP
7	Manoj Sonkar		BJP
8	Harjeet Singh		BJP
9	Bimala Dubey		BJP
10	Harpreet Kaur Babla		BJP	Elected as INC candidate, defected to BJP after the election.
11	Anup Gupta		BJP
12	Saurabh Joshi		BJP
13	Sachin Galav		INC
14	Kuljeet Sandhu		BJP	Senior Deputy Mayor
15	Ram Chander Yadav		AAP
16	Poonam		BJP	Elected as AAP candidate, defected to BJP after election. [6]
17	Damanpreet Singh		AAP
18	Taruna Mehta		INC	Elected as AAP candidate, defected to INC after the election. [23]
19	Neha Musawat		BJP	Elected as AAP candidate, defected to BJP after election. [6]
20	Gurcharan Jeet Singh Kala		BJP	Elected as INC candidate, defected to BJP, then to AAP and then again to BJP after the election. [24] [25] [6]
21	Jasbir Singh		AAP
22	Anju Katyal		AAP
23	Prem Lata		AAP
24	Jasbir Singh		INC
25	Yogesh Dhingra		AAP
26	Kuldeep Kumar		AAP	Mayor [26]
27	Gurbax Rawat		INC
28	Nirmala Devi		INC
29	Manaur		AAP
30	Hardeep Singh		SAD
31	Lakhbir Singh Billu		BJP	Elected as AAP candidate, defected to BJP after the election.[ citation needed ]
32	Jasmanpreet Singh Babbar		BJP
33	Kanwarjit Rana		BJP
34	Gurpeet Singh		INC
35	Rajinder Sharma		BJP	Deputy Mayor

Nominated Councillors

Sr. No.	Councillor
1	Charanjiv Singh
2	Ajay Dutta
3	Sachin Kumar Lohtiya
4	Haji Mohd. Khurshid Ali
5	Dr Joytsna Wig
6	Shipra Bansal
7	Sat Parkash Aggarwal
8	Kamla Sharma
9	Maj. Gen. M. S. Kandal

Civic utilities

The prime responsibilities of the civic body are to ensure cleanliness and sanitation in the city, illumination of street lights, maintenance of parks, and sewerage disposal. ^[27]

Water Supply

The city has both brick and pipe sewers laid in four phases. ^[28] In September 2020, the civic body announced that it would upgrade and renew the 50-year-old sewerage system. ^[28] The pilot project for the 24x7 water supply is expected to begin in Chandigarh in May 2021, which was initially to start in September 2020 and end in March 2022. On 8 April 2021, Chandigarh Smart City Ltd (CSCL) opened the bid by the joint venture firm between SB Engineering and Tap Presstressed Pvt Ltd that quoted a value lower than the reserved price of ₹162 crores. The CSCL board is yet to take the final decision. ^[29]

Tariffs

In 2021, the BJP ruled corporation had increased the water tariff by 200 times. This created widespread discontent among the residents. AAP promised to provide free water up to 20,000 litres to each family in Chandigarh every month. ^[30]

In 2021, there was an acute shortage of parking spaces. As the problem aggravated BJP led corporation increased the parking charges in the city. The increase in the waste collection charges, water tariff and property tax rates during the last five years made the voters against the incumbent BJP. ^[30]

The increased expenditure for the basic amenities and these tariff hikes led to a strong discontent among the voters. ^[30]

Cleanliness

In 2016, Chandigarh was the second cleanest city of India. In 2016 BJP came to power in the corporation. In the years that followed, garbage from the city was not disposed of properly. The lack of a proper process or mechanism led to the garbage piled up at the Dadu Majra garbage dump site. ^{[30] [31]}

In 2021, Chandigarh fell to 66 positions in the cleanest cities in India. The city had always taken pride in the fact that it was one of the cleanest cities in the country. The fall in cleanliness became an important poll issue. The residents were upset with the downfall in the cleanliness. ^[30]

Covid-19

The government's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in India damaged BJP's image as the voters felt that they were not given desired help in getting the hospital beds and medical oxygen from their elected representatives. The sitting Councillors were found to be unapproachable when the public needed support. No major relief measure was taken by the local government. ^[30]

References

1. "AAP's Kuldeep Kumar is Chandigarh Mayor as Supreme Court cancels last result". Mint. 20 February 2024. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
2. Chowdhury, Aditi Ray (4 March 2024). "BJP's Kuljeet Sandhu Wins Chandigarh Deputy Mayoral Polls". News18. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
3. "Chandigarh Municipal Re-Election: BJP's Rajinder Sharma Wins Deputy Mayor Post With 19 Votes". ABP News. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
4. "AAP, Congress seal alliance for Chandigarh mayoral polls". Economic Times. Retrieved 15 January 2024.
5. Rana, Sandeep (11 January 2024). "Another blow to Chandigarh AAP, councillor Lakhbir Singh Billu joins BJP". Tribune India. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
6. "Manoj Sonkar resigns as Chandigarh Mayor ahead of SC hearing, 3 AAP councillors join BJP". India TV. 18 February 2024. Retrieved 18 February 2024.
7. "History of MCC". Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh. 4 January 2012. Retrieved 20 April 2018.^{[ dead link ]}
8. "Chandigarh Municipal Corporation likely to charge for advertising on cinema houses, multiplexes". The Indian Express. 18 November 2015n. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
9. Rohtaki, Hina (4 November 2015). "Chandigarh Municipal Corporation to spruce up heritage site". The Indian Express. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
10. "Chandigarh Municipal Corporation Newly elected mayor rajesh kumar alias kalia January 2019". newsgraph.net. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
11. "Municipal Corporation Chandigarh, Chandigarh Administration, India". mcchandigarh.gov.in. Retrieved 26 April 2022.^{[ dead link ]}
12. "BJP-SAD wins all top posts in Chandigarh MC polls". Tribune. 8 January 2016. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
13. "Rajesh Kalia new Mayor of Chandigarh". The Hindu. 18 January 2019. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
14. "The Ragpicker Who Would Be Mayor: Chandigarh's Rajesh Kalia is an inspiration for all". Times Now. 22 January 2019. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
15. Victor, Hillary (10 January 2018). "From clerk's son to Chandigarh mayor: BJP's Davesh Moudgil". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
16. "Chandigarh Mayor Election 2022 on January 8; AAP, BJP in race". The Financial Express. 4 January 2022. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
17. "Jain men elected Mayor, Dy Mayor". The Tribune. 23 December 1998. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
18. "Composition of a Municipal Corporation in India". PublishYourArticles.net - Publish Your Articles Now. 19 July 2014. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
19. "Directory - The official website of Municipal Corporation Chandigarh,Chandigarh Administration, India". mcchandigarh.gov.in. Retrieved 9 January 2022.^{[ dead link ]}
20. Ghazali, Mohammad; Ghosh, Deepshikha (27 December 2021). "AAP Wins Most Seats In Chandigarh Polls On Debut, BJP Mayor Among Losers". NDTV.com. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
21. "AAP emerges as leading party as Chandigarh MC poll throws up hung house; BJP's sitting mayor loses". The Tribune. 28 December 2021. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
22. "Chandigarh Municipal Polls: AAP Emerges Leading Party; Party's Damanpreet Singh Defeats BJP Mayor". Outlook. 27 December 2021. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
23. "Chandigarh AAP councillor Taruna Mehta joins Congress". Hindustan Times. 28 May 2023. Retrieved 28 May 2023.
24. "Another Congress councillor joins BJP, changes voting equation in Chandigarh Municipal Corporation". The Indian Express. 9 June 2022. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
25. "BJP councillor Gurcharan Singh Kala joins". Tribune. 13 January 2024. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
26. "AAP's Kuldeep Kumar is Chandigarh Mayor as Supreme Court cancels last result". Mint. 20 February 2024. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
27. "How Chandigarh's four-pronged strategy is helping the city fight COVID-19 | Citizen Matters". 17 August 2020. Archived from the original on 17 August 2020. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
28. Sagar, Munieshwer A (11 September 2020). "Plans afoot to revamp Chandigarh's over 5-decade-old sewerage system". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
29. Sagar, Munieshwer A (9 April 2021). "Pilot project for 24x7 water supply in Chandigarh set to begin in May". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
30. Rohatki, Hina (27 December 2021). "Explained: 5 reasons why AAP scored big in Chandigarh municipal polls". The Indian Express. Retrieved 27 December 2021.
31. "Dadu Majra dump in Chandigarh poses a threat to lives of 50,000 citizens: PIL in Punjab and Haryana HC". The Indian Express. 15 July 2021. Retrieved 28 December 2021.

External links

• Official Logo