Chandigarh: BJP chose Ambala mayor for Kalka seat

Chandigarh: Ambala Municipal Corporation Mayor Shakti Rani Sharma has been named by the BJP as its candidate for the Kalka Assembly seat. The BJP today released a list of 67 candidates, which includes Shakti from Kalka and Speaker Gian Chand Gupta from Panchkula. Shakti, wife of Jan Chetna Party (JCP) chief and former Union Cabinet minister Vinod Sharma, joined the BJP during a rally in Jind. She contested the 2014 Assembly elections from Kalka on a JCP ticket and got only 7,661 votes. BJP’s Latika Sharma had won the election. After meeting BJP president Jagat Prakash Nadda on Wednesday, Shakti posted on her Facebook account, “Today I received guidance from National President JP Nadda in Delhi. The National President welcomed me by wearing the party’s dupatta. I am impressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s effort to take welfare schemes to the rural level. Rajya Sabha MP Kartikeya Sharma was also present with us.” Her son Kartikeya Sharma is a Rajya Sabha MP. Before the final list was released in the evening, party workers, including Kalka Ward No. 2 councillor Goldy Valmiki, said in a statement that they want a local person to contest from the constituency and not an outsider. Panchkula MLA and Assembly Speaker Gian Chand Gupta has been elected for the Panchkula seat for the third consecutive time. Gupta has been a Panchkula MLA for 10 years and has served as Assembly Speaker for five years. He has been the BJP mayor of Chandigarh. He was appointed vice-president and chief whip of Haryana BJP from 2016 to 2019.