In an attempt to strengthen her position as a candidate committed to development, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) mayoral candidate rolled out her list of promises on a stamp paper of Rs100 on Thursday and made it public.
“All the promises that I wish to fulfill are written on a stamp paper and this means that they will be binding on me. I will complete these, if elected,” Munni Chaudhary said.
In the document, the 50-year-old has emphasised on strengthening the public education and health system, and civic amenities. The BSP candidate, who has only studied up to primary class, said she will open government schools on line of Central Schools and Navodaya Vidyalayas in each of the 100 wards of the Ghaziabad municipal corporation.
“We will provide low-cost medical services to residents of each ward,” Chaudhary said, adding that she will also raise the issue of weekly markets and will fight for restoration of their place of operation from where they were moved out.
Against BJP’s promise of replacing all street lights within 48 hours of getting elected, Chaudhary promises to get the job done in 24 hours. She has also promised installation of CCTV cameras in each ward to check crimes, such as chain-snatching.
Chaudhary was a surprise candidate from the BSP as she was fielded at the last moment. A week before she was declared the BSP mayoral candidate, Chaudhary and her husband shifted from BSP to Samajwadi Party (SP). However, when the SP gave the mayoral ticket to Rashi Garg, Chaudhary and her husband again joined the BSP and got the ticket for mayor’s seat.
Though the civic body’s top post is reserved for women, there’s stiff competition among the 13 candidates all of whom, barring Chaudhary, are either post-graduates or MBAs.
AAP candidate Dr Pragati Tyagi, though a political first-timer, is an MD (gynaecology). Samajwadi Party candidate Rashi Garg is an MBA in marketing and HR; she too is contesting her first election. Congress candidate Dolly Sharma is also an MBA with specialisation in marketing and HR. BJP candidate Asha Sharma is a post-graduate in political science and had been an active party worker 25 years. The two-time councillor from Kavi Nagar and Nehru Nagar has also been a leader of the BJP women’s wing.
Major political parties, such as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), have already rolled out their manifestoes for the local body polls. Both parties have tried to cater to the masses and have raised issues of health, cleanliness, improvement in civic infrastructure and provision of basic facilities, like clean water, electricity and speedy redressal of complaints.
