BJP wins Chandigarh Mayor’s post, defeats Congress-AAP’s joint candidate

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday (January 30, 2025) won the election for the post of Mayor of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation (CMC) by defeating the joint candidate of the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in what came as a setback to the Indian National Developmental, Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) partners.

The BJP’s Harpreet Kaur Babla won the post of Mayor by securing 19 votes in the 35-member House. She defeated Prem Lata of the AAP, the joint candidate of the AAP-Congress alliance, who secured 17 votes.

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Presiding officer Ramneek Singh Bedi announced the result. The election was held through secret ballot and all 36 polled votes were found valid.

While election to CMC is held every five years, election to the post of Mayor is held annually. This time, the Mayor’s post, which has a tenure of one year, was reserved for women.

Despite having a higher numerical strength in the House, the joint AAP-Congress candidate for the post of Mayor fell short of the majority, which is indicative of cross-voting by councillors.

The BJP has 16 councillors, the AAP has 13 councillors, and the Congress has six councillors in the CMC. The AAP and Congress jointly have 20 votes as the Chandigarh MP (currently Manish Tewari from the Congress) also has a voting right as an ex-officio member.

After the election of the Mayor, polling was held for the posts of Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor. Congress candidates, backed by the AAP, won both the posts.

The Congress’s Jasbir Singh Bunty secured 19 votes to win the post of Senior Deputy Mayor. He defeated the BJP’s Bimla Dubey, who secured 17 votes.

The Congress’s Taruna Mehta secured 19 votes and was elected as Deputy Mayor. He defeated the BJP’s Lakhbir Singh, who secured 17 votes.

The Congress and the AAP jointly contested the mayoral elections against the BJP. In accordance with the alliance’s agreement, the Congress contested the posts of Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor, while the AAP fought for the Mayor’s post.