With the main political parties finalising their candidates list for many of the wards just a day before the last day of filing nomination papers, there was heavy rush to file nomination papers for the elections to the Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation on Monday.
With too many ticket aspirants and too much pressure from different quarters, the political parties were left with no other option than putting off the decision-making, in a bid to avoid rebellion. However, while they succeeded in pacifying the rebels in many wards, they could not succeed in others resulting in rebel candidates filing their nomination papers on the last day as independent candidates.
After a process that dragged on for almost a week, the Congress announced its list on Sunday. And, the BJP chose to announce its list in a phased manner keeping the contentious ones for the last day. The Janata Dal (Secular) and te Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) too are releasing their lists in a phased manner.
With only one day left for all candidates whose names were finalised on Sunday and Monday, there was a huge rush at the nomination paper collection centres which were set up in Hubballi and Dharwad. In some centres, the staff worked till late night for completing the nomination process.
Many old faces
As the competition was intense both in the Congress and the BJP, the party leaders seemed to have decided in favour of old faces in many wards. However, they have also chosen new faces in some wards. They have decided against giving ticket to senior councillors in some wards, which has led to rebellion in the form of independent candidature. The efforts to pacify these rebel candidates is likely to continue till the last day of withdrawal of nomination papers.
