"We were confident...": Devinder Singh Babla after BJP registers victory in Chandigarh mayor polls
Jan 30, 2025
Chandigarh [India], January 30 : After BJP registered victory in the Chandigarh Mayoral elections, Chandigarh BJP vice president and husband of newly-elected Mayor, Devinder Singh Babla expressed his happiness stating that they were confident of their win.
"We were confident that this will indeed happen," Devinder Singh Babla told ANI.
Hitting out at the current Mayor and Aam Aadmi Party councillor Kuldeep Kumar, Babla accused him of committing corruption.
He said, "Mayor Kuldeep Kumar made up for everything else that remained, he showed that he was looting the Corporation...We will get that inquired...Their Councillors saw how they were behaved with, and then they voted for us..."
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today registered its victory in the Chandigarh Mayoral Elections by winning 19 votes against the 17 votes of the AAP-Congress alliance.
This comes ahead of the Delhi assembly polls where the poll battle has been intensified between AAP, BJP and Congress.
In this election, BJP candidate Harpreet Kaur Babla emerged victorious over the Aam Aadmi Party candidate Prem Lata.
There are a total of 36 votes in the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, which includes the vote of 35 councillors and one Member of Parliament (MP) from the territory. A total of 19 votes was needed for the majority.
The voting for the post of Mayor of Chandigarh Municipal Corporation started at around 11 am. During the voting, three councillors of the AAP-Congress alliance cross-voted against Prem Lata, carving a path of victory for the BJP.
Moments before the commencement of the election, an FIR was also registered against former mayor and AAP councillor Kuldeep Kumar and his brother-in-law Rahul Chanalia on charges of corruption. This case is related to the alleged bribe in the recruitment of sanitation workers on a contract basis in the Municipal Corporation.
The complainant Ravi Birla lodged a complaint on the SSP window on Tuesday, in which he alleged that Kuldeep Kumar's brother-in-law Rahul took a bribe of Rs 1 lakh in the name of a job as a sanitation worker, but did not give the job.
According to Ravi, he had paid Rs 75,000 through online mediums and Rs 30,000 in cash. He has also presented 15 recordings and screenshots of online transactions in support of his complaint.
The crime branch of Chandigarh Police registered an FIR within 24 hours, which further heated up the election atmosphere.
