BJP’s Ravi Kant Mayor; Sidhu, Farmila deputies

Sandeep Rana

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Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 8

Ruling BJP’s Senior Deputy Mayor Ravi Kant Sharma today rose up the ladder to become the new Mayor of Chandigarh.

Know your Mayor

• Ravi Kant Sharma (53), who belongs to Khad village in Una district of Himachal Pradesh and resides in Sector 37, has been associated with the RSS since his childhood. He was actively involved in the ABVP during his college days.
• He did his graduation from Una and later completed MBA in public administration through distance learning.
• Ravi Kant later did jobs in Jalandhar and Delhi. Having shifted his base to Chandigarh in 1989, he became the city BJP member in 1996.
• He has been running a courier and cargo business from Sector 34 since 1998. He became the councillor for the first time in 2016. He was made Senior Deputy Mayor last year.
• One of his sons is settled abroad and the other studies at DAV College, Sector 10. His wife is a homemaker.

He got 17 of the 24 votes polled by councillors through the secret ballot during the mayoral elections here today. His rival from the Congress, Devinder Singh Babla, could get only five votes. BJP’s former ally SAD’s lone councillor Hardeep Singh boycotted the poll. Two votes were declared invalid.

Besides, local MP Kirron Kher, who is an ex officio member of the House, and BJP councillor Heera Negi did not come due to ill-health.

After Ravi Kant was declared the Mayor, all five Congress councillors boycotted the subsequent elections of Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor alleging that the saffron party councillors used cameras while voting for the Mayor. City Congress president Pardeep Chhabra alleged that the councillors took “much time” while voting as they were clicking pictures to show their party that they voted for Ravi. Babla alleged that they had hidden cameras/phones under their jackets. The charge was vehemently denied by the BJP, saying that the Congress was doing it to save its face. This is the BJP’s fifth and last Mayor of the current MC House, which will go to the polls by the end of this year. Ravi replaced incumbent Mayor Raj Bala Malik.

Sidhu, Farmila make a clean sweep Meanwhile, ruling BJP councillors Maheshinder Singh Sidhu and Farmila were elected Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor, respectively. They made a clean sweep bagging all 19 votes of the members present in the House.

SAD councillor remembers farmers

City SAD president and councillor Hardeep Singh asked the House members to stand and pay respect to the farmers who died during the ongoing agitation. Besides him, only BJP councillor Gurpreet Singh Dhillon stood up.

Will take action over invalid votes: Gautam

City BJP incharge Dushyant Gautam said they would act against the two coucillors, whose votes were found invalid. “They have been voting in the House for five years; how come they do not know how to vote,” he said. City BJP president Arun Sood said a committee would be formed to look into the issue.