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BJP’s Anup Gupta elected Chandigarh mayor, defeats AAP nominee by one vote
Of the 29 votes polled, Gupta got 15 votes and AAP’s Jasbir Singh 14 votes. The six Congress councillors and lone Shiromani Akali Dal member abstained from voting
Anup Gupta, 38, of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was elected the 29th mayor of Chandigarh after he defeated Jasbir Singh, also 38, of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) by one vote, in the mayoral elections held on Tuesday.
BJP won all three posts – mayor, senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor.
Of the 29 votes polled, Gupta got 15 and Singh got 14.
Kanwarjeet Rana of BJP defeated Taruna Mehta of AAP by one vote to secure the post of senior deputy mayor while Harjeet Singh of BJP was elected deputy mayor after he defeated AAP candidate Suman Devi by one vote.
The six Congress councillors and lone Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) member abstained from voting.
Gupta, a first-time councillor, was the deputy mayor last year. The mayor, senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor are elected for a year.
In the 35-member Chandigarh municipal corporation (MC) House, the AAP has 14 members and the BJP 15, including the Member of Parliament Kirron Kher, who has an ex officio vote.
A businessman, Gupta is the Chandigarh BJP secretary and represents Ward 11 that covers Sectors 18, 19 and 21 in the House. Known to be close to Chandigarh BJP chief Arun Sood, MP Kirron Kher and senior leader Sanjay Tandon, Gupta is a commerce and law graduate.
Tight vigil for elections
The elections were conducted amid tight security in the presence of Chandigarh deputy commissioner (DC) Vinay Pratap Singh, who was acting the prescribed authority, while nominated councillor Amit Jindal was appointed the presiding officer.
Before voting began in the MC’s assembly hall at municipal corporation office, AAP members objected to the presence of nominated councillors, stating that they don’t have voting rights. The DC replied that there was no provision in the law to bar their presence during the elections.
BJP leaders Tandon, Sood, Devinder Singh Babla and former mayor Rajesh Kalia were present during the elections, while AAP leader Pardeep Chhabra and UT city unit chief Prem Garg were present in the public gallery.
Why Congress stayed away
The Congress, which had taken its six councillors to Kasauli, accused both the BJP and the AAP of “opening money bags to lure them”. They said “such corrupt practices” adopted by rival parties had tarnished the fair name of City Beautiful.
“Under these circumstances, the Congress has decided to stay away from the election and sit in the Opposition to expose the anti-people policies of the AAP and the BJP,” said a Congress leader.
Last year, Sarabjit Kaur was declared mayor after a vote cast by the AAP was declared invalid. The AAP had even moved the high court against the election results, but the petition was dismissed by the court.
