Campaign for civic body election ends

Campaigning for election to the civic body here, to be held on Sunday, ended today.
Elections to 26 civic wards of Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh will be held on December 18 for which 122 candidates, including 67 Independents, are in the fray.
Polling will be conducted at 460 booths from 8 AM to 5 PM and the results will be declared on December 20. Of those eligible to vote, 2,70,358 are male and 2,36,819 female.
Both Congress and BJP are contesting from all 26 wards, while BSP has fielded candidates in 17 wards.
The municipal corporation has 36 members, of which 26 are elected councillors, nine are nominated councillors and one is an MP (ex-officio member). At present, BJP has 15 councillors, Congress nine, BSP one and another one is Independent.

During campaign, the incumbent BJP tried to cash in on the Centre's demonetisation move, while Congress' city unit leaders alleged it was implemented without any "application of mind".

Fadnavis and Thackeray have led from the front in the
no-holds-barred attack against each other. It has also put a question mark on the stability of the state government with the Sena chief asserting that he has put the ministry on "notice period."
A section in Shiv Sena feels if the party does well in the civic polls, there is a possibility that it could pull out of the government.
But, in interviews to media, Uddhav later appeared to mellow down and said if the government waives loans of farmers, his party would continue to support the government.

Congress and NCP, which are also going solo, have taken a dig at the Sena chief, saying he is raising farm sector distress as an excuse to remain in power.
The BJP has been harping on transparency in the civic administration while the Sena has mocked it, asking where is transparency in the state and central governments.
The CM retorted by alleging that many scams in the civic body have been unearthed.
Seeking to turn the tables on Fadnavis, the Sena leaders have alleged that his stint as Mayor of his hometown Nagpur years back was not corruption-free, a charge the BJP rejected as far from truth.

While Sena posters in Mumbai highlight its "achievements" as "karun dakhavla" (we have done what we promised), BJP's campaign revolves around Fadnavis, who asks voters to trust his "word" in developing Mumbai ('swachh, sunder Mumbai, ha majha shabd aahe').
The Congress, Sena and MNS have also been affected by internal rebellion and defections with some of the former legislators and office-bearers joining BJP.