Adedokun Waliyu 
The deadline to enter Brampton’s upcoming municipal election is officially closed, and all but one current member of city council is seeking another four-year term.
The candidate nomination period for Ontario’s October 26 municipal elections closed at 2 p.m. on Friday, with dozens of challengers seeking to bring new faces to Brampton City Council.
Regional Councillor for Wards 9 and 10 Gurpartap Singh Toor was not listed as a candidate by the deadline and has confirmed that he will not seek re-election.
“I will have more to say in the coming weeks regarding my decision and what the future holds,” Toor said in a statement. “At this time, I will remain focused on completing the remainder of this term and serve my residents with diligence.”
Brampton’s ward pairings each have a city councillor and a regional councillor. All incumbents, aside from Toor, including Mayor Patrick Brown, are seeking re-election.
Mayor
Besides incumbent Mayor Patrick Brown, who filed his nomination paperwork last month, 11 other candidates are seeking to become the next head of Brampton City Council.
They include local realtor Paul Tarriwal, non-profit worker Sandeep Somal, entrepreneur Jagruti Bhatt, 2018 Brampton mayoral candidate Wesley Jackson, and independent 2025 Ontario provincial election candidate for Brampton-Chinguacousy Park Avi Dhaliwal.
Little information is available about candidates Vidya Gautam, Gaurav Walia, Prabhjot Kaur Sidhu, Najma Khurram, Prabh Gill and Gurdeep Singh Dhothar.
Wards 1 and 5
Seven candidates are seeking to unseat incumbent City Councillor Rowena Santos, including Tracy Pepe and Staceyann Brooks, who both challenged Santos in the 2022 municipal election.
Immigration consultant Gagandeep Singh Atwal, wellness professional Amit Dutta, and Brampton residents Tajinder Singh Bhinder, Romolo Tantalo and Khimani Williams are also running in the ward.
Regional Councillor Paul Vicente’s seat is being challenged by two candidates: school and community advocate Idris Orughu and Steven Lee, who also ran against Santos in 2022 and received 6.25 per cent of the votes.
Wards 2 and 6
City Councillor Navjit Kaur Brar has eight challengers to her seat, the highest number of candidates seeking any single ward seat in the city.
Brar is seeking her second term on Brampton City Council after entering politics from a healthcare and nursing background.
Her challengers are Jermaine Chambers, who previously ran for MP of Brampton West in 2021 and mayor of Brampton in 2022; local realtors Keval Shah and Raghav Dhir; Carmen Wilson, who also ran in the ward in 2022; Rakesh Singh Thakur, Gurpreet Pabla, Amir Khawaja Hassan and Yadvinder Deswal.
Regional Councillor Michael Palleschi, who was first elected to Brampton City Council in 2014, is also seeking re-election. He is the son of the late former Councillor Paul Palleschi.
Challengers to the seat are public servant Prempal Gill, realtors Parth Sharma and Romy Dogra, administration worker Sameer Tandon, Ajaib Singh Sran and Julie Luckasavitch.
Wards 3 and 4
City Councillor Dennis Keenan is seeking re-election after his first term on council and faces five other candidates: local realtors Gita Devi Dawadi Dhakal and Santokh Randhawa, Ajit Seerha, Kaniki Karine Mujinga and Jugraj Singh Khinda.
Regional Councillor Martin Medeiros has the fewest challengers to his council seat, with Sandeep Kumar Goel and Navneet Singh Lotey also running.
Wards 7 and 8
Regional Councillor Pat Fortini was first elected to Brampton City Council in 2014 and was re-elected in 2018 and 2022.
Six candidates are registered to challenge Fortini: local dentist Aman Sharma, Anil Sahajpal, Vedaant Vyas, Cynthia Sri Pragdash, Christopher Soranno and Ripudaman Dhillon, who also ran for the seat in 2022 and received more than 17 per cent of the vote.
City Councillor Rod Power is facing five challengers: current Township of Southgate Councillor Monica Singh Soares, local businessman Rakesh Sharma, strategic consultant Nayan Brahmbhatt, Ali Khan and University of Toronto graduate Ayanna Kahlon.
Wards 9 and 10
Deputy Mayor and City Councillor Harkirat Singh, a former School Board Trustee at the Peel District School Board, was elected to city council in 2018.
Several candidates have previously contested elections, including Janice Gordon-Daniels, who ran in 2022; community organizer Azad Goyat, also a city council candidate in 2022; and Cheryl Rodricks, who ran in Wards 7 and 8 in 2014.
Jagdish Grewal, Kamran Hassans, Baljinder Singh Nehal and Sandeep Kumar are also registered in the ward, although little information is available about them.
While Regional Councillor Gurpartap Singh Toor is not seeking his current council seat in October, former Regional Councillor Gurpreet Dhillon is seeking to return to Brampton City Council and faces seven other candidates.
Dhillon, a two-time Brampton councillor, lost his seat in 2022 and was the only incumbent not re-elected to city council that year following allegations of sexual misconduct and harassment involving a female staffer during a trade mission to Turkey in 2019.
The former councillor has said the accusations against him were withdrawn in a letter that he says retracts the claims. However, the city’s integrity commissioner said she was unable to verify that the letter actually came from the complainant.
Dhillon is running alongside lawyer Sukhman Sangha, brand consultant Mike Dancy, Peel District School Board Vice Chair Satpaul Singh Johal, community advocate Nirmala Devi Madhu, Harsimran Singh, Gregory Miller and Prabhjot Dhaliwal.
Brampton residents who are not seeking political office can still participate in the election process by working as election staff. Available positions include Location Supervisor, Assistant Location Supervisor, Deputy Returning Officer, Tabulator Attendant, Accessible Voting Unit Attendant and Greeter.
Election workers can earn more than $1,200 in Brampton.
