BJP mayor, former mayor lose Chandigarh civic body polls

Chandigarh: In a setback to the BJP, its sitting mayor Ravi Kant Sharma and former mayor Davesh Moudgil faced a humiliating defeat in the Municipal Corporation Chandigarh polls on Monday.

They were defeated by AAP candidates as the counting of the ballots were underway for the total 35 wards. The polling, which recorded 60 per cent voter turnout, was held on December 24.

So far, AAP, which is in the fray for the first time, won four seats and was ahead in three wards, the BJP won two, while the Congress bagged two seats and was leading in one.

Former mayor Moudgil, who was allotted ticket at the last moment on the intervention of former MP Satya Pal Jain, lost to AAP's Jasbir Singh Laddi by 939 votes in Ward 21.

Moudgil was facing a lot of anti-incumbency owing to lack of development works in his ward. He was also facing opposition from the party leadership in the city due to his insubordination while at the helm.

Sitting mayor Sharma lost his seat to Damanpreet Singh from ward 17 by a margin of 828 votes.

Gurpeet Singh of the Congress won by nine votes in Ward 34, while Harpreet Kaur Babla, wife of leader of opposition Devinder Singh Babla, won by 3,103 votes in ward 10. It is the highest winning margin so far.

Sarbajit Kaur of the BJP won by 502 votes in ward 6, Akali Dal's Hardeep Singh won by 2,145 votes in Ward 30.