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BJP’s Harpreet Kaur Babla is new Chandigarh mayor, wins by two votes
Jasbir Singh Bunty and Taruna Mehta of AAP-Congress combine elected senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor after defeating BJP candidates Bimala Dubey and Lakhbir Singh Billu in close contests
BJP’s Harpreet Kaur Babla, 60, was elected the new mayor of Chandigarh on Thursday after she defeated Aam Aadmi Party-Congress candidate Prem Lata, 46, by two votes.
Babla got 19 votes, while Lata bagged 17 votes in the 36-member municipal corporation of Chandigarh in a closely watched contest.
While the House has 35 members, Chandigarh MP Manish Tewari of the Congress holds the ex-officio vote.
Babla is the councillor from ward number 10 and Lata represents ward number 23.
The poll process was monitored by a Supreme Court-appointed observer, Jaishree Thakur, who is a former judge of the Punjab and Haryana high court.
Cross-voting has taken place as the INDIA bloc had 20 votes in the 35-member House —13 from the AAP, six from the Congress, and MP Tewari’s ballot. The BJP has 16 members after recently three-time Congress councillor Gurbax Rawat joined the party. A party needs 19 votes to install its mayor, which Babla got.
After the mayor’s election, polling for the senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor were held. While the AAP contested the mayor’s post, the Congress put up its candidates -- Jasbir Singh Bunty and Taruna Mehta -- for the posts of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor, respectively. Bunty, who got 19 votes, defeated BJP’s Bimala Dubey by two votes, while Mehta also won by two votes. She defeated BJP’s Lakhbir Singh Billu.
The poll results were announced by presiding officer Ramneek Singh Bedi. Polling for the mayor’s post began at 11.20am in the assembly hall of the municipal corporation and ended at 12.19pm.
