In the repolls held for the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged victorious in both the Deputy Mayor and Senior Deputy Mayor positions. Rajinder Sharma secured the post of Deputy Mayor by defeating the AAP-Congress alliance with 19 votes. Meanwhile, Kuljeet Singh Sandhu clinched the Senior Deputy Mayor position with 19 votes, while Congress’ Gurpreet Gabi received 16 votes. One vote was declared invalid in the process.
In the 35-member municipal house, the BJP holds a significant position with 17 councillors, bolstered by three AAP councillors who switched allegiance to the party on February 19. The AAP has 10 members, the Congress has seven, and the Shiromani Akali Dal has one councillor. Additionally, Chandigarh MP Kirron Kher, a BJP member, has voting rights as an ex-officio member of the corporation.
The repolls were conducted following the Supreme Court’s decision on February 20, overturning the results of the January 30 mayoral poll in which the BJP candidate emerged as the winner. The court declared the defeated AAP-Congress alliance candidate Kuldeep Kumar as the new Mayor of Chandigarh. The ongoing election process for the Deputy Mayor and Senior Deputy Mayor posts is being overseen by AAP councillor Kumar, who recently assumed the position of Chandigarh Mayor after the court’s ruling. In the initial January 30 poll, BJP’s Manoj Sonkar had defeated Kumar to become the Mayor.
