Chandigarh has become an interesting seat for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections as both major parties — BJP and Congress — have changed their candidates this time.

While the BJP cut the ticket of its two-time incumbent MP Kirron Kher, the Congress too denied the ticket to Pawan Kumar Bansal, who has been contesting from here for decades.

Bansal won the seat consecutively three times (1999, 2004 and 2009) but lost the last two elections (2014 and 2019) against BJP’s Kirron Kher.

Congress has fielded Manish Tewari this time and the party’s Chandigarh president Harmohinder Singh Lucky is having a hard time convincing local workers to support Tewari.

Lucky’s post against Bansal has led to the resignation of over 50 Congress leaders in Chandigarh and now he is urging them to sort the matter behind closed doors and not make it public.

The post said, “Pawan Bansal tricked… Manish Tewari announced as Congress candidate from Chandigarh… Congratulations, long live the Congress, long live HS Lucky, Manoj Lubana”.

Calling Bansal “senior most leader”, Lucky claimed that the post was not made by him but by some university students who manage his Instagram account.

He introduced Tewari in his video message by claiming that he was born and brought up in Chandigarh. He also explained that a new face was needed as Bansal has contested last eight Lok Sabha elections. 

Tewari had earlier won the Lok Sabha elections from Ludhiana in 2014 and from Anandpur Sahib in 2019. However, when his name was announced for Chandigarh, protests erupted in party’s local unit.

This was because Bansal was also expecting a ticket. He had even began campaigning. He has served as a Union Minister in the Manmohan Singh Cabinet and was the Congress treasurer from 2020 to 2023.

Meanwhile, no chaos has been reported from BJP’s local unit after the Chandigarh BJP president Sanjay Tandon replaced Kirron Kher.