BJP wins Chandigarh Mayor polls, defeats AAP candidate by just 1 vote

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) defeated its closest rival Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the Chandigarh Mayoral election on Tuesday and emerged victorious by just 1 vote.

BJP’s Anup Gupta defeated AAP nominee Jasbir Singh by a whisker in the high-stakes mayoral polls.

The election for Chandigarh Mayor was seen as a neck and neck battle between BJP & AAP, as both parties had 14 councillors each while Congress was nowhere in the race.

As per reports, BJP got 15 votes while AAP nominee got support of 14 councillors.

In the 35-member Municipal Corporation House, Congress has 6 councillors but it chose not to field its candidate in the high-stakes face-off. Shiroman Akali Dal (SAD) has 1 member and it chose to abstain from voting.

A fight to finish was expected between BJP & AAP as both have 14 councillors each. However, BJP had an advantage because Chandigarh’s Member of Parliament (MP) is from the party. The lawmaker also reserves a right to vote, being an ex-officio member of the Municipal Corporation.

The elections for Chandigarh Mayor, were held at 11 am today. Polls were held for Mayor, Deputy Mayor & Senior Deputy Mayor posts.

BJP had fielded Kanwarjit Rana and Harjeet Singh for the post of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor respectively while AAP had Taruna Mehta and Suman Sharma as its nominees for given posts.

It may be noted that the Mayor polls are held every year. Last year, the BJP won all the posts of the civic body.