BJP’s Harpreet Kaur Babla elected new mayor of Chandigarh Municipal Corporation
Chandigarh: BJP’s Harpreet Kaur Babla was on Thursday elected as the new mayor of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation after defeating AAP candidate Prem Lata by a thin margin of just two votes.
Babla secured 19 votes while AAP candidate Lata got 17 votes. No vote was found to be invalid.
The result was announced by presiding officer Ramneek Singh Bedi.
The contest for the mayoral polls was between the BJP and the AAP-Congress combine.
In the 35-member house of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, the AAP has 13 councillors and its ally Congress has six councillors. The BJP has a strength of 16 councillors.
Besides, the Chandigarh MP also has a voting right as an ex-officio member of the 35-member municipal corporation. The sitting MP is Manish Tewari of the Congress.
The victory of the BJP candidate indicated that cross-voting took place during polling.
The Supreme Court had appointed former Punjab and Haryana High Court Justice (retd) Jaishree Thakur as an independent observer for the mayoral poll.
After the election of the mayor, polling for the posts of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor would now take place.
BJP’s candidates for the posts of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor are Bimla Dubey and Lakhbir Singh Billu respectively.
The AAP and Congress are contesting the mayoral polls in alliance. The mayor’s post was contested by the AAP.
The Congress has put up its candidates–Jasbir Singh Bunty and Taruna Mehta — for the posts of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor respectively.
