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BJP’s Saurabh Joshi elected Chandigarh mayor as AAP-Congress alliance crumbles
Smooth sailing for Joshi, who polled 18 votes, while AAP’s Yogesh Dhingra got 11 votes and Gurpreet Singh Gabi of Congress secured seven votes in elections conducted by show of hands.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Saurabh Joshi, 43, was elected as the new mayor of Chandigarh on Thursday.
In the three-cornered contest, Joshi polled 18 votes, while the Aam Aadmi Party candidate, Yogesh Dhingra, got 11 votes and the Congress’ Gurpreet Singh Gabi secured seven votes.
The elections were conducted by a show of hands instead of the previous practice of a secret ballot. After raising their hands, the councillors also gave their verbal confirmation.
BJP candidates Jasmanpreet Singh and Suman Sharma were elected senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor.
Ramneek Singh Bedi, a nominated councillor, was appointed the presiding officer for the election.
In the 35-member house of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, the BJP has 18 councillors, the AAP has 11, and the Congress has six. The Chandigarh MP also has a voting right as an ex officio member of the 35-member municipal corporation.
Sitting MP Manish Tewari of the Congress raised his hand in support of his party’s nominee Gabi.
For the first time in two years, the INDIA bloc partners fielded separate candidates, effectively splitting the opposition vote and handing Joshi a smooth passage to the top post in the final year of the current Municipal Corporation House’s five-year term.
Tensions between the Punjab units of the Congress and AAP that are set to face the assembly elections early next year and internal friction over candidate selection led to the breakdown.
The rift became public when AAP councillor Ramchandra Yadav filed his nomination as an Independent for the deputy mayor’s post, supported by Congress proposers—a move that local leaders cited as proof of “internal sabotage”. Both parties opted to contest independently in the final year to test their individual strengths ahead of the 2026 general MC elections.
“It is ironic that the AAP could not manage its own house. We wanted an alliance, but their internal situation made it impossible,” said HS Lucky, Chandigarh Congress president.
With the opposition votes split, Saurabh Joshi’s path was clear. As he takes the chair for the final year of this House, all eyes will be on his vision for the city before the 2026 polls.
“I thank my father, owe everything to him,” an emotional Joshi said, holding a photo of his father, the late Jai Ram Joshi, who was the Chandigarh BJP president in the 1990s.
A second-generation politician, Joshi is often described as a “dyed-in-the-wool” worker of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the BJP. For Joshi, this was the fulfillment of a decade-long family aspiration. His father had been a guiding force in his transition from the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) to mainstream politics, and the photograph served as a symbolic witness to Joshi finally attaining the chair his father once championed for others.
Mayoral terms in Chandigarh in five years
Despite being a major force in the city since its 2021 debut, the AAP has only held the mayor’s post once.
2022: Sarbjit Kaur (BJP) AAP won 14 seats but lost to BJP due to cross-voting.
2023: Anup Gupta (BJP) Saffron party retained power.
2024: Kuldeep Kumar (AAP) First and only AAP mayor. Initially lost, but declared winner by Supreme Court after ballot tampering controversy.
2025: Harpreet Kaur Babla (BJP) BJP won despite AAP-Congress alliance having numerical strength.
2026: Saurabh Joshi (BJP) AAP-Congress alliance collapsed; BJP won a triangular contest.
