CHANDIGARH: BJP candidate Harpreet Kaur Babla has been elected as the Mayor of Chandigarh despite the AAP-Congress alliance having secured majority in the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation due to alleged cross voting by three councillors. Congress won the posts of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor. This time no vote was found to be invalid. Out of the 35 members comprising the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, the AAP has 13 councillors, Congress has six councillors, and the BJP has 16 councillors. Member of Parliament from Chandigarh, Manish Tewari, has voting rights as an ex-officio member of the corporation. Including Tewari, the AAP-Congress alliance had 20 votes in total. Congress senior councillor Gurbax Rawat switched loyalties and joined BJP in the run-up to the polls.Harpreet Kaur Babla got 19 votes and her rival, AAP’s Prem Lata, got 17 votes in the mayoral elections reserved for women this term. Jasprit Singh Bunty of Congress won the senior deputy mayor post with 19 votes, while Bimla Dubey of BJP could only manage 17 votes. Taruna Mehta of Congress was elected as deputy mayor after he secured 19 votes and defeated Lakhbir Singh Bill of BJP who got 17.The BJP relied on cross-voting or defections to achieve the 19-vote mark for majority. The AAP-Congress alliance had shifted its councillors to a hotel in Ropar of Punjab before the voting in order to prevent defections. But despite this, three councillors voted against the alliance’s candidate.The result was announced by presiding officer Ramneek Singh Bedi. The election was conducted under the supervision of former Punjab and Haryana High Court Judge Jaishree Thakur, who was appointed by the Supreme Court as an independent observer. Proceedings were recorded on camera.
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