Poonam Sharma elected Chandigarh Mayor

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Rajinder Nagarkoti

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 6

Congress candidate Poonam Sharma (52) has been elected as the new Mayor of Chandigarh. She won by two votes defeating BJP candidate Heera Negi. The posts of Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor have been captured by BJP’s Rajesh Gupta and Congress’s Gurbax Rawat, respectively.

With today’s victory in the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation elections, the Congress has consecutively won Mayor’s post eighth year in a row.

Despite having 14 votes of councillors and an MP, the BJP lost to the Congress which had nine votes of councillors in the MC House.

For Mayor’s seat, 17 votes were polled in favour of Poonam Sharma, whereas Heera Negi managed to get 15 votes. One vote was declared invalid. Out of 35 members, including BJP’s MP Kirron Kher, 33 members exercised their right to vote.

Out of nine nominated councillors, Sat Paul Bansal and Dr Amrit Tewari remained absent from the voting. While ailing Tewari is admitted to the PGI, Sat Paul Bansal is in Canada due to his prior business engagements. 

For Senior Deputy Mayor’s post, BJP’s Rajesh Gupta secured 17 votes, whereas Congress candidate Satish Kainth got 15 votes. One vote was decarled invalid in Senior Deputy Mayor’s elections as well.

For Deputy Mayor’s post, Congress’s Gurbax Rawat defeated BJP’s Davesh Moudgil with a margin of one vote. Gurbax Rawat was polled 16 votes, whereas BJP’s Davesh Moudgil got 15 votes. Two votes were declared invalid.

City’s new Mayor Poonam Sharma is a law graduate and first-time councillor.

Menwhile, the blame game has started in the BJP over defeat in the mayoral elections. Different camps of MP Kirron Kher, city unit president Sanjay Tandon, former MP Satya Pal Jain and senior BJP leader Harmohan Dhawan, have started blaming each other for the defeat.