In a major development, BJP candidate Harpreet Kaur Babla On Thursday became the new Mayor of Chandigarh Municipal Corporation (MC). Harpreet Kaur Babla won the Chandigarh Mayor election by 2 votes due to cross-voting. The BJP candidate got 19 votes. At the same time, Prem Lata, the candidate of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Congress alliance, got 17 votes.
In the Mayoral election, the BJP had the support of only 16 councilors. At the same time, AAP had 13 and Congress had 6, besides 20 votes including one MP Manish Tiwari. AAP and Congress alliance had an absolute majority. Despite this, their candidate lost.
It is clear from the result of the mayoral election that 3 votes of the AAP-Congress alliance casted vote been in favor of the BJP. For the unversed, AAP's Kuldeep Kumar Tita was the Mayor of Chandigarh MC for the last one year, but now BJP has snatched the power of Chandigarh Corporation from him.
After the result of the Mayoral election, the political battle between Congress and AAP, fighting against each other in Delhi, may intensify. However, the BJP says that due to the lack of development in Chandigarh, councillors have voted in favour of the BJP by listening to the voice of conscience. Now, voting will take place for Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor.
Devinder Singh Babla, Chandigarh BJP vice president & husband of newly-elected Mayor Harpreet Kaur Babla while talking to the media said, "We were confident that this will indeed happen. ..Their Councillors saw how they were behaved with, and then they voted for us..."