BJP’s Raj Bala Malik elected Chandigarh mayor
Considered close to Chandigarh’s member of Parliament Kirron Kher, this is Malik’s second stint as mayor; she was elected to the MC in 2011 and became mayor in 2012 as the Congress candidate
BJP councillor Raj Bala Malik was elected Chandigarh’s new mayor after she defeated Congress candidate Gurbax Rawat by 17 votes on Friday.
The mayor’s tenure is of one year in Chandigarh and elections are held annually.
With the BJP having two-thirds majority in the 26-member House, Malik’s win was certain.
A total of 27 votes were polled, including that of Chandigarh MP Kirron Kher, as she is the ex-officio member of the MC House. Malik got 22 votes, while Rawat had to be content with just five votes, the same as the number of Congress councillors.
NO CROSS-VOTING
No cross-voting took place as feared in the BJP camp due to discontentment within the party over Malik’s nomination.
Deputy commissioner Mandip Brar presided over the election process that began at 11am and was over in an hour.
After her election, Malik thanked all party councillors and said that her priority is to upgrade the city’s old sewerage and water lines. She said she would take everyone along for the development of City Beautiful.
She replaced BJP’s Rajesh Kalia, who claimed his tenure was successful as several pending projects were started in his tenure.
BJP, CONG FACE OFF OVER BALLOT SECRECY
Before the election, BJP and Congress councillors exchanged barbs as the presiding officer asked all councillors to maintain ballot secrecy.
All councillors were asked to submit their mobile phones and pens as Congress councillors alleged that BJP councillors would attempt to click pictures of their ballot. On this, Kher said that the Congress was misleading the House as there was no need for any BJP councillor to do such things.
Nevertheless, all councillors gave in and kept their mobiles and pen away before casting the ballot.
SWITCHED SIDES IN 2014
A lawyer, Raj Bala, is married to RK Malik, a senior advocate in the Punjab and Haryana high court. She was elected to the House for the first time as a Congress candidate in 2011. She became the mayor the very next year.
In 2014, she switched allegiance to the BJP in the hope of getting an assembly ticket from Haryana that she did not get.
She again contested the MC elections in 2016 and was elected from Ward No. 2 (Sectors 12, 14 and 15).
Her contender Rawat, who has remained a deputy mayor, represents Ward No. 9 (Sectors 39 and 40).
