Chandigarh: BJP's Raj Bala Malik on Friday was elected as the new Mayor of Chandigarh Municipal Corporation here. Malik, an advocate, defeated Congress nominee Gurbaksh Rawat.
Malik polled 22 votes while Rawat got five votes, officials said. The Bharatiya Janata Party has the majority in the 27-member of the MC House with 20 councillors while the Congress has five councillors.
The BJP's ally Shiromani Akali Dal also has one councillor. Local MP Kirron Kher, who is an ex-officio member of the House and has one vote, also excercised her franchise. In order to be elected as Mayor, a nominee needs 14 votes of municipal corporation councillors.
Malik, who was Mayor in 2012 as well, has been elected for a one-year tenure. She was first chosen to the House in 2011 from Congress and became the Mayor a year later. She switched sides to join the BJP in 2014.
Luckily for the BJP, no cross-voting took place this time. The party had to face a major embarrassment last year when its Councilor Satish Kainth had rebelled and contested the mayoral election. Kaint bagged 11 votes in 2019 elections, including 4 of the Congress. He was expelled from the party and had later joined the Congress. The BJP on its part worked hard to keep its flock together before Friday’s poll.
Notably, the BJP has 20 members, SAD 1 and the Congress has 5 members in the municipal corporation.
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