BJP's Harpreet Kaur Babla elected as Chandigarh Mayor

BJP candidate Harpreet Kaur Babla elected as the new Mayor of Chandigarh.

Harpreet Kaur Babla of the BJP was on Thursday elected as the new mayor of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, winning against AAP’s Prem Lata. Babla garnered 19 votes compared to Lata’s 17. The announcement was made by presiding officer Ramneek Singh Bedi.

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 contest for the mayoral polls was between the BJP and the AAP-Congress combine.

The election result marks a setback for the AAP-Congress alliance, which had 19 councillors before the vote and expected additional support from its ex-officio member, MP Manish Tewari, bringing its projected strength to 20. On the other hand, the BJP, with just 16 councillors, depended on defections to achieve the required majority of 19.

The Supreme Court had appointed former Punjab and Haryana High Court Justice (retd) Jaishree Thakur as an independent observer for the mayoral poll.

After the election of the mayor, polling for the posts of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor would now take place.

BJP's candidates for the posts of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor are Bimla Dubey and Lakhbir Singh Billu respectively.

The AAP and Congress are contesting the mayoral polls in alliance. The mayor's post was contested by the AAP.

The Congress has put up its candidates--Jasbir Singh Bunty and Taruna Mehta -- for the posts of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor respectively.