Kusum Sardet of BJP is Shimla mayor

Shimla: Kusum Sardet of the BJP was elected as the mayor of Shimla as the party created history by bagging the post for the first time. The position of the deputy mayor of the Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC) also went to the BJP. The municipal election results are significant as they come at a time when the state Assembly polls in the hill state of Himachal Pradesh are not far. Sardet of BJP, who won from the Annandale ward, was elected mayor, defeating Simmi Nanda of the Congress by six votes.

The post of the Mayor was reserved for a Scheduled Caste woman and Sardet polled 19 votes against the 13 secured by Nanda. One vote was declared invalid. BJP backed candidates had won from 17 out of the 34 SMC wards and with one party rebel and a Congress rebel joining, its strength increased to 19. The lone CPI(M) member abstained. For the post of deputy mayor also there was direct contest between the Congress and the BJP. Rakesh Kumar, a BJP rebel, who was taken back into the party sprang a surprise by securing 20 votes against 13 votes polled by Anand Kaushal of the Congress.

At least one Congress backed candidate cross-voted in favour of the BJP whose candidate won by seven votes. The election of both the mayor and deputy mayor were held through a secret ballot and the media was not allowed inside. BJP backed candidates, who were kept at some unknown place heaved a sigh of relief after the election of mayor and deputy Mayor as the perceived threat of poaching by Congress was over. There was not much excitement in the Congress camp today but the BJP workers were present outside the Bachat Bhawan in large numbers and shouted slogans.

The BJP councillors were taken in a procession through the Lower Bazaar and thousands of workers joined the march to celebrate the victory. In the first elections held for the SMC in 1986, both the Congress and BJP backed candidates polled ten votes each in the 21 member house and Adarsh Sood of Congress won by toss. In successive elections held in 1992, 1997, 2002 and 2007, Congress swept the SMC polls and got its mayor and deputy mayor elected comfortably.

In 1992, the BJP failed to open its account while in subsequent polls also the Congress won by comfortably and bagged the top two posts. In 2012, the government held direct elections for the post of mayor and deputy mayor and the CPI(M) won both the posts inspite of the fact that it had only three seats in the 25-ward corporation. The BJP had then emerged as the largest party with 12 seats and Congress was ousted for the first time as it won only ten seats.