BJP councillors win posts in Chandigarh civic body

Chandigarh: The BJP's Kuljit Singh Sandhu and Rajinder Sharma on Monday won the posts of Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor respectively, by defeating INDIA bloc candidates Gurpreet Singh Gabi and Nirmala Devi in the re-election in the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation.

Sandhu secured 19 votes and the Congress' Gurpreet Gabi 16 while one vote was declared invalid.

For the Deputy Mayor's post, Rajinder Sharma emerged the winner by securing 19 votes, while the Congress'' Nirmala Devi got 17 votes.

The results were announced by the INDIA bloc's Mayor Kuldeep Kumar Dhalor, who was the presiding authority for the poll.

He was declared elected on the directive of the Supreme Court.

In a 35-member municipal House, the BJP has 17 councillors. The BJP's strength increased from 14 to 17 after three AAP councillors switched loyalties. The AAP has 10 members while the Congress has seven. The Shiromani Akali Dal has one councillor.

Chandigarh MP Kirron Kher, who is a BJP member, also has voting rights as an ex-officio member of the corporation.