Who Is Harpreet Babla, Chandigarh New Mayor (image: facebook.com/hkbabla)
Chandigarh: In a massive blow to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), BJP candidate Harpreet Kaur Babla on Thursday won the critical Chandigarh Mayoral polls by a margin of 2 votes. While Babla received 19 votes, Congress-AAP alliance candidate Prem Lata got 17 votes. A total of 36 votes were polled and this time, the seat is reserved for a woman councillor.
Although the alliance had more votes, i.e., 20 votes in comparison to BJP, i.e., 16 votes, the latter emerged victorious. As per Times of India report, three votes of the alliance were crossed and it proved in favour of BJP nominee.
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The voting began at 11 am in the Assembly Hall of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation. The elections took place through a secret ballot under the supervision of Justice Jaishree Thakur, retired judge of Punjab and Haryana High Court, who was appointed by the Supreme Court to supervise the elections.
The mayor in Chandigarh is elected for a year. The elections for he posts of mayor, senior deputy mayor, and deputy mayor is scheduled for today.
With the election win, the BJP has maintained control over the Chandigarh mayor seat, establishing an important political development for the party in the city.
The alliance between Congress and AAP has not been smooth. As per the reports, the Punjab unit of Congress had expressed discontent over Congress high command’s decision to enter into alliance with AAP in the Chandigarh mayoral elections, since latter chose to go solo in the Delhi assembly elections.
During the Chandigarh Mayoral polls held last year, a controversy erupted after presiding officer and nominated councillor Anil Masih was accused of discrediting eight votes to allegedly favour the BJP candidate.
Harpreet Babla
After the win, the newly elected Mayor Harpreet Babla thanked the BJP leadership and all senior officers of Chandigarh administration and Municipal Corporation, who conducted the election in a peaceful manner.
Harpreet Babla, 60, is a homemaker-turned-politician. A resident of Sector 27, she is a well-known social worker. Babla started her political career with Congress and after the civic polls in January 2022, she switched to BJP along with her husband Devinder Singh Babla.
Babla has been elected as a councillor twice before. During her interaction with Indian Express after the win, Babla said that her first priority is to address the financial distress of the municipal corporation. “Everyone has witnessed the failure of the Aam Aadmi Party mayor, who has done nothing for the city. My first priority is to get the municipal corporation back on track. Once we address its financial crisis, everything will fall into place,” Babla said.
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“I will work collaboratively with everyone and do my best to resolve the city’s issues,” she added further.
Devinder Singh Babla is the vice president of the BJP in Chandigarh and a two-time former councillor. Besides, he had also served as leader of the Opposition in the municipal corporation and chairman of the market committee in Chandigarh.
