Chandigarh Gets a New Mayor: BJP Retains Power as Harpreet Kaur Babla Secures Victory

Chandigarh (The Uttam Hindu): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has once again taken charge of Chandigarh’s municipal administration. Harpreet Kaur Babla secured victory in the mayoral elections by obtaining 19 votes. One vote was declared invalid, while three votes went to the opposition due to cross-voting. The elections for the mayor’s post were held today and following the results, the BJP retained control over the city’s civic body. Voting commenced at 10:30 AM and the counting of votes began immediately afterward. Following last year’s controversy surrounding the elections, the Supreme Court decided to keep a close watch on the voting process this time. An observer was appointed to oversee the election and video recording of the entire process was also mandated.

It is worth mentioning that last year’s mayoral elections were marred by chaos with allegations of fraud during vote counting. A video of the incident surfaced, leading to Supreme Court intervention. This year, both the court and the Election Commission have implemented strict measures to ensure a transparent and fair election process. This time, the mayoral election was conducted through a secret ballot system. Councilors were required to cast their votes only in the designated space on the ballot paper. If a councilor wrote anything else on the paper or damaged it, the vote would be considered invalid. Due to the secret voting method, the possibility of cross-voting also increased. As per the election procedure, the mayor’s election took place first and once the results were announced, the newly elected mayor was responsible for overseeing the elections for senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor. The voting process for all three positions followed the same procedure.

The BJP fielded candidates for all three positions, whereas the AAP-Congress alliance had allocated the mayor’s seat to AAP while Congress held the senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor posts. Interestingly, despite contesting against each other in the Delhi Assembly elections, AAP and Congress joined hands for this municipal election. If any votes were deemed invalid, the results could have taken an unexpected turn. The recent defection of Congress councilor Gurbaksh Rawat to the BJP reduced Congress’s strength from seven to six, while BJP’s count stood at 16 councilors. AAP currently has 13 councilors and Chandigarh’s Member of Parliament also holds one vote. This brings the alliance’s total count to 20 votes. If there is no cross-voting, the AAP-Congress alliance would have a clear majority in the elections.