In major setback to INDIA block, BJP gets mayor in Chandigarh

Chandigarh: In a major setback to the INDIA's Congress-AAP alliance for the Chandigarh mayoral post despite having maximum councillors, the civic body ruling BJP on Tuesday retained the seat by winning the post with four votes.

Eight out of 36 votes were declared invalid.

The BJP got 16 votes, while the AAP-Congress alliance had 12 votes despite they had 20 councillors.

BJP's Manoj Sonkar defeated AAP's Kuldeep Dhalor Tita, the candidate of the AAP-Congress combine.

In a 35-member house of the Municipal Corporation, the BJP has 14 councillors, with another vote of member of Parliament and ex-officio member Kirron Kher. The AAP has 13 councillors, while the Congress holds seven. The Shiromani Akali Dal has one councillor in the House.

The ruckus erupted after the BJP mayor was elected.

All 36 votes were polled, comprising the vote of local MP Kirron Kher, who was the first to cast vote.

In January last year, 29 votes were polled of which Anup Gupta of the BJP won the mayor election defeating Aam Aadmi Party's Jasbir Singh Laddi by only one vote. Gupta got 15, while Singh secured 14. The Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal abstained from the voting.

In 2022 too, the BJP candidate had won from just one vote after a vote was declared invalid due to various reasons.