Congress, BJP finish tight in Chandigarh Municipal polls

CHANDIGARH: Both the ruling Congress and main opposition BJP finished close to each other in the elections to 26 wards of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, results of which were declared here today.

This puts the onus on nominated councillors to elect the new mayor.

The final tally of the parties in the 26-member elected civic body are Congress-11, BJP-10, its ally Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) two, BSP two and one independent, election officer Tarsem Singh said.

The election to the city civic body, touted to be the main contest between Congress and BJP-SAD alliance, took place on December 17.

The corporation had a total strength of 36 members, including 26 elected councillors, nine nominated councillors and one MP.

The party, which is going to have majority in the civic body, will now depend upon the nominated councillors. However, the sources said that most of the councillors are believed to be close to Chandigarh MP and senior Congress leader Pawan Kumar Bansal.

Prominent heavyweight names from both the parties who are among the losers included former Mayors and sitting councillors Anu Chattrath and Kamlesh(Congress), Ram Lal, Anil Dubey and Raj Kumar Mishra (BJP).

The new faces that will be in the corporation are Hira Negi (BJP), Aisha Jaiswal (BJP), Raj Bala Mallik (Cong), Laxmi Devi (BJP), Sanjeev Babbar (BSP), Jannat Jahan (BSP), Malkiat Singh (SAD) and Gurbax Rawat (Cong).