CHANDIGARH: Cross-voting by three councillors helped BJP candidate Harpreet Kaur Babla get elected Thursday as the new mayor of Chandigarh Municipal Corporation (CMC). She defeated AAP nominee Prem Lata by two votes – 19 against 17.
In the 35-member house, BJP has 16 councillors while AAP and Congress alliance is in a majority, with 13 and 6 councillors, respectively. With the vote of Chandigarh MP Manish Tewari of Congress, who is an ex-officio member of CMC, the combine’s total count is 20. Tewari, who was supported by AAP during LS elections, called for strict action against cross-voters.
“Obviously, horse traders were at work. What they still don’t understand is that people of Chandigarh severely frown upon political immorality,” he posted on X. Chandigarh Congress chief HS Lucky asserted action against party councillors who cross-voted. “It is unacceptable… black sheep will be identified and strict action will be taken.”
Congress wins deputy mayor’s post despite cross-voting
The mayor’s post was reserved for a woman this year. Chandigarh municipal corporation is elected for a tenure of five years, but the mayor is elected annually.
Reacting to the victory, BJP’s Chandigarh president Jatinder Pal Malhotra said: “All those councillors who voted today know only BJP can bring development to the city.”
There was cross-voting during elections to the posts of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor too, but Congress candidates Jasbir Singh Bunty and Taruna Mehta managed to win both positions. With 19 votes, Bunty defeated BJP’s Bimla Dubey who got 17. Mehta, who also got 19 votes, defeated BJP’s Lakhbir Singh Billu by two votes. Last year, AAP-Congress alliance managed to win the mayoral post after the intervention of the Supreme Court. Initially, the presiding officer declared BJP’s Manoj Sonkar as the mayor by cancelling eight AAP-Congress votes. The top court found the cancelled votes valid and declared AAP-Congress alliance’s Kuldeep Kumar as the mayor.
Retired judge Jaishree Thakur, appointed by SC, oversaw this year’s mayoral elections.