Chandigarh: Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP's) Saurabh Joshi on Thursday (January 29) won the Chandigarh mayor election. Joshi received 18 votes. Meanwhile, Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP's) Yogesh Dhingra and Congress candidate Gurpreet Gabbi received 11 and seven votes each.
The voting for the mayor's post was held under the supervision of presiding officer Ramneek Singh Bedi.
Visuals Of The Mayor Election Voting:
The polls were conducted by a show of hands instead of the previous practice of a secret ballot. After raising their hands, councillors also reportedly gave their verbal confirmation.
In the 35-member House of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, the BJP has 18 councillors, the AAP has 11, and the Congress has six. Chandigarh MP Manish Tewari also voted for the Congress candidate.
Notably, the Chandigarh MP also has a voting right as an ex officio member of the 35-member municipal corporation.
The polling for the posts of Mayor, Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor began at 11 am on Thursday. The outcome of the mayoral election was a result of the AAP-Congress alliance collapse.
Jasmanpreet Singh became Senior Deputy Mayor, and Suman Sharma was elected Deputy Mayor
Joshi's mayoral term will be the fifth and the final for the ongoing five-year term of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation. Last year, BJP's Harpreet Kaur Babla won the mayor polls. For the unversed, the five-year term for the civic body will end this year in December. The previous polls were held in 2021.
BJP leader and Union Minister Ravneet Singh Bittu congratulated Joshi.
“Heartiest congratulations to Shri Saurabh Joshi ji on being elected Mayor of Chandigarh from BJP," Bittu said in an X post.
"Wishing him a successful tenure in serving the people and taking Chandigarh to new heights of development and good governance," he added.
