Kirron Kher, the sitting MP of Chandigarh, is looking for re-election against four-time MP and former Union Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal.
Chandigarh Lok Sabha constituency is the lone parliamentary seat in the Chandigarh and covers the entire Union Territory. Kirron Kher, the sitting MP of Chandigarh, is looking for re-election against four-time MP and former Union Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal.
Bansal won from Chandigarh in 1991, 1999, 2004 and 2009. He had twice defeated senior lawyer and BJP leader Satya Pal Jain in 1991, 2004 and 2009. He held various ministerial portfolios in two UPA terms under the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He was at the centre of a controversy in May 2013 after his nephew was arrested for allegedly taking cash for a post in the Ministry of Railways, a department Bansal was holding at the time.
His nephew Vijay Singla was allegedly caught red-handed while accepting a bribe of Rs 89,68,000. The cash was allegedly seized by the CBI from the office of Singla n a bribery and corruption case related to appointments at top positions in the railways.
Bansal was later asked by the Congress party to resign even though the CBI, which was investigating the matter, failed to find any evidence linking him to the scandal. He was renominated by the party to contest from Chandigarh against BJP's Kirron Kher and AAP's Gul Panag.
Kher, in 2014 Lok Sabha polls, had won from Chandigarh seat by defeating Bansal with a margin of 69,642 votes. While Kher won the election by securing 1.91 lakh votes, Bansal and Panag received 1.21 lakh and 1.08 lakh votes respectively.
This election, the BJP has renominated Kirron Kher from Chandigarh despite opposition from local party unit. Harmohan Dhawan, who won the seat in 1989 on a Janata Dal, is AAP candidate. Polling to Chandigarh parliamentary constituency will take place on May 19.
Kher says she is banking on the "Modi wave" and her work as an MP from Chandigarh to sail through the contest to win the seat for the second consecutive term. She has blamed Bansal for doing "nothing" for Chandigarh and promised to bring the city to the top position in cleanliness and sanitation.
"What has he done for the city? Compare five years of my performance and his 15 years. He did nothing... He does not have any intention to work," Kher claimed.
"I have a clean image and on the other hand, the entire country knows his image. It is my city and my hometown. I have done a lot of work here...I have been a vocal MP. I did not act in films for five years," she told PTI.
Kher shared her vision for the next five years for 'the city beautiful', as it is popularly known, saying she wanted to convert government schools into English medium, promote solar projects and make the city a start-up hub on the lines of Silicon Valley, home to global technology companies.
Exuding confidence about her victory, she said, "There is a factor of the Modi wave and also the work I carried out in the city in the past five years." Listing out her achievements, Kher said she had worked for every sector, including health and education, and pointed out that the upper age limit in government jobs was raised from 25 to 37 years.
To solve the growing problem of traffic congestion in the city, Kher batted for bringing in rapid transit system, monorail and mini buses.
She dismissed Bansal's idea of bringing in the metro rail as "non-feasible", saying a huge financial outlay is needed for its implementation.
"What was stopping him from bringing the metro here? He knew the metro could not come here as engineers did not recommend it for a city like Chandigarh," she said, adding that the project, if implemented, would lead to demolition of several markets.
On Bansal's remark of "restoring lost glory of Chandigarh, Kher said when the Congress candidate was an MP, the maximum number of slum colonies came up in the city.
"We started an exercise of resettling them under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana," she said.
Cleanliness, bringing metro service to ease traffic congestion and job creation were highlights of the manifesto released by Congress candidate Bansal.
He said the manifesto for Chandigarh aims at restoring the glory and prestige of the city.
"The Chandigarh spirit is being assailed by irregular expansion, increased traffic... inadequate parking spaces and public transportation system.
"The city suffers the ignominy of rising crime against women. We have to make it safe and create a more kind and gentle society that cares for those at risk the most," he said.
The manifesto emphasis on restoring the clean and pollution-free environment of the city, its colonies and surrounding villages, boost community parking and starting the metro service to solve the problem of traffic congestion.
The Congress candidate from Chandigarh also envisioned a crime-free city with emphasis on security for women, meaningful job creation for the youth, bringing more funds from the Centre for education, health, roads, parks and other infrastructure.
Bansal also promised that once elected, he will report real time on his website and Facebook page about issues, works and projects taken up.
(With PTI inputs)
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