Chandigarh civic polls: AAP wins big, BJP mayor loses

TIL Desk/National/Chandigarh/ New entrant Aam Aadmi Party has emerged as the leading party winning 13 of 35 wards so far as the counting of votes in the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation polls is in progress here on Monday. In a setback to the ruling BJP, sitting mayor and party candidate Ravi Kant Sharma was defeated by AAP’s Damanpreet Singh, according to results declared so far.

Counting of votes is underway for the election held here on Friday. While the AAP, which was contesting the Chandigarh MC polls for the first time, has so far won 13 wards, the BJP and the Congress have bagged 10 and five wards, respectively. The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) bagged one seat. Sharma lost his seat to Singh from ward number 17 by a margin of 828 votes.

Former mayor and BJP candidate Davesh Moudgil lost to AAP’s Jasbir by 939 votes from ward number 21. Nine counting centres have been set up for 35 wards of the municipal corporation. The number of wards has increased from 26 in 2016 to 35 now. Traditionally, the municipal election – held every five years – sees a locking of horns between the BJP and the Congress, but the AAP’s entry made the contest this time triangular.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) holds a majority in the current municipal body. Reacting to his win, AAP’s Singh said he gives credit for this victory to “my guru (Chandigarh AAP leader) Pradeep Chhabra and our role model Arvind Kejriwal… Work is always appreciated and it has paid dividends today”.