Chandigarh Mayor Polls: BJP Wins Both Senior Deputy Mayor And Deputy Mayor Posts

Chandigarh Mayor Polls: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday, March 4, won both the posts of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, defeating the Congress candidates who were backed by the Aam Aadmi Party. 

For the post of senior deputy mayor, BJP's Kuljeet Sandhu defeated Congress' Gurpreet Gabi. While Sandhu polled 19 votes, Gabi got 16, and one vote was declared invalid.

Rajinder Sharma of the BJP defeated Congress' Nirmala Devi to win the deputy mayor's post. The winning candidate secured 19 votes of the total 36 polled.

The BJP had fielded the same set of candidates last time and they had won then too. In the 35-member municipal House, the BJP has 17 councillors. The number of BJP's strength increased from 14 to 17 after three AAP councillors switched over to it on February 19.

Election After SC's Order 

The elections were held for the post of  senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation on Monday after the Supreme Court of India on February 20 overturned the January 30 results of the Chandigarh mayoral poll. 

On February 20, the Supreme Court had declared Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor Kuldeep Kumar as the new mayor of the corporation after it overturned the result of the January 30 mayoral poll in which BJP candidate Manoj Sonkar had emerged the winner.

Its judgment had come on allegations of tampering with ballots during the January mayoral polls. As the mayor is the presiding officer for the elections to the posts of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor, the polls were held again on Monday after the change in the mayoral post following the court's judgment.

(With Inputs From PTI, ANI)