Chandigarh ,30 jan
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the Chandigarh mayoral election on Thursday, securing 19 votes in the 36-member House. Harpreet Kaur Babla, the BJP’s candidate, will serve as the new mayor. Meanwhile, Congress candidate from the INDIA alliance, Taruna Mehta, won the deputy mayor election.
According to the presiding poll officer, all 36 votes were polled, with no invalid ballots. Babla received 19 votes, while Prem Lata, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate backed by the Congress, received 17. Three councillors from the opposition alliance cross-voted in favour of the BJP, swinging the outcome.
The result is a setback for the AAP-Congress alliance, which had 19 councillors before the election. The alliance also expected support from its ex-officio member, Member of Parliament Manish Tewari, bringing its total to 20. The BJP, with 16 councillors, relied on defections to reach the majority mark of 19.
In the deputy mayoral polls, the Congress secured 19 votes, while the BJP won 17.
In the lead-up to the election, Congress councillor Gurbax Rawat switched sides and joined the BJP. The alliance moved its councillors to a hotel in Punjab’s Ropar town to prevent defections. Despite this, three councillors voted against their party’s candidate.
The election was conducted under the supervision of former Punjab and Haryana High Court judge Jaishree Thakur, who was appointed by the Supreme Court as an independent observer. Proceedings were recorded on camera.
Gathering of more than five people within 100 metres of the Municipal Corporation building was restricted under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS).