The Chandigarh unit of the Aam Aadmi Party has released its first list of nine candidates for the 35-ward Municipal Corporation elections scheduled for December, setting an early campaign marker while declaring its goal of winning at least 30 seats and forming its own administration.
The candidates were finalised at a meeting led by Delhi MLA and Chandigarh AAP in-charge Jarnail Singh, attended by senior party functionaries and office-bearers from the city unit. The party said candidates for the remaining 26 wards would be announced soon, possibly in two further lists.
The first list includes Didar Singh, Gurpreet Kaur Laadi, Anju Katyal, Onkar Singh Aulakh, Kuldeep Kumar, Radhika Dhingra, Ajit Singh, Satnam Kaur and Arun Prabha Khurana. Katyal is the only sitting municipal councillor among the nine. The other candidates are new faces, although several are spouses or relatives of serving party councillors.
According to AAP sources cited by the Times of India, the selection process considered ward-level surveys, loyalty to the party and the candidates’ perceived ability to win. The party said the nine wards had limited internal competition and no significant dissidence, making the selection relatively straightforward. Most of the selected candidates have reportedly been associated with AAP since its formation, while two candidates or their family members joined the party only a few months ago.
The early announcement is intended to give candidates more time to meet residents, build ward-level campaign networks and engage with local concerns before polling. Sitting councillors have been asked to approach voters with report cards and highlight work carried out in their wards over the past five years.
AAP won 14 seats in the December 2021 MC elections and emerged as the single largest party in its first municipal contest in Chandigarh. Eight of its councillors later defected to other parties, while a Shiromani Akali Dal councillor subsequently joined AAP. The party currently has seven councillors in the corporation.
Despite being the largest party after the 2021 election, AAP secured the mayor’s post only once, in 2024, with support from the Congress. The BJP elected the mayor in the other four years, according to the report. The party’s current campaign is therefore focused not only on increasing its ward tally but also on securing the numbers needed to control the mayor-led administration.
Jarnail Singh congratulated the nine candidates and said AAP was confident of winning at least 30 seats. Chandigarh AAP president Vijay Pal Singh said the party would contest the election with full strength and unity, with better civic amenities, transparent administration and people-centric governance as its stated priorities. The remaining candidate lists are expected to determine the party’s full electoral strategy across the corporation’s 35 wards.
