Chandigarh:
The BJP registered a victory in the Chandigarh mayoral elections, winning with 19 votes against the 17 votes of the AAP-Congress alliance. The election saw BJP candidate Harpreet Kaur Babla emerge victorious over AAP’s Prem Lata.
The Chandigarh mayoral poll was a high-stakes contest between the BJP and the AAP-Congress alliance. Polling for the post began at 11:20 am in the assembly hall of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation and ended at 12:19 pm.
The Chandigarh Municipal Corporation consists of 35 members, including elected councillors and the Chandigarh MP, who has voting rights as an ex-officio member.
Before the election, the seat distribution was as follows: AAP with 13 councillors, Congress with 6, BJP had 16 and 1 vote for the Chandigarh MP (Congress).
A few days before the election, Congress councillor Gurbax Rawat switched allegiance to the BJP, increasing the party’s strength to 16.
The election was conducted via secret ballot. Nominated councillor Ramneek Singh Bedi was designated as the presiding officer, and retired Punjab and Haryana High Court Justice Jaishree Thakur was appointed as an independent observer by the Supreme Court to oversee the polls.
The top court had also directed that the election proceedings be videographed.