BJP wins 2 of 3 top posts in mayoral polls
Due to the infighting, a Congbacked councillor was elected the senior deputy mayor by 23 votes, despite BJP having a majority of 26
GURGAON: In a major surprise, Congress-supported Pramila Devi Kablana of Ward 9 bagged the post of senior deputy mayor on Friday despite the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) having 26 councillors in the House.
Madhu Azad, BJP councillor from Ward 7, was elected unopposed as mayor, a post that had been lying vacant for the last 17 months.
BJP councillor from Ward 33, Sunita Yadav, was elected unopposed as the deputy mayor.
A total of 15 women were elected as councillors in the elections held on September 24. Two seats were reserved for women from the Scheduled Castes (SC) while 10 seats were reserved for women.
The mayoral elections were conducted at the John Hall in Civil Lines on Friday under heavy police cover and in the presence of political leaders and senior bureaucrats.
With her victory, Azad becomes the city’s first woman mayor and the second mayor, overall, following Vimal Yadav’s election in 2011. Her name was proposed by Rimple Yadav, the BJP councillor from Ward 5.
Madhu is the wife of Ashok Azad, who has been with the BJP for nearly two decades. Madhu was an undergraduate student in the Delhi University but did not finish her education. She contested the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) elections for the first time in 2017.
Madhu was viewed as a ‘party candidate’ who rose through the BJP ranks. This year, the mayor’s seat had been reserved for a woman candidate from the Scheduled Caste.
Azad and BJP councillor Sheetal Bagri of Ward 10 were the front-runners for the post and senior leaders within the party were divided over their selection.
However, the leaders made a unanimous choice after BJP state president Subhash Barala held a series of meetings with party members at the state office on Thursday evening and at Hotel Acura in Civil Lines on Friday morning.
UNEXPECTED WINNER
Pramila, the wife of senior Congress leader Gaje Singh Kablana, fought the 2017 elections as an independent candidate after Congress decided against contesting on the party symbol. RS Rathee, the councillor from Ward 34, proposed her name.
Pramila’s victory may have been a direct result of the lack of resolution on the BJP’s part for picking the senior deputy mayor.
BJP’s pick, Brham Yadav, councillor of Ward 13, was reportedly backed by PWD minister Rao Narbir Singh. However, he faced resistance from within the party, from the faction backed by Rao Inderjit Singh, sources said. Pramila bagged 23 of 35 votes.
Sunita was widely expected to bag a post in the mayoral elections. The two-time councillor from Ward 33 is the wife of senior BJP leader Anil Yadav. Ashwini Sharma, the councillor from Ward 19, proposed her name.
The BJP had won 14 of 35 seats in the municipal corporation elections on September 24 and later garnered the support of 12 councillors.
Unlike last elections, wherein BJP and INLD councillors had boycotted the polls, all councillors cast their votes.
Gurgaon didn’t have elected representatives since June 2016,
DURING THE 10YEAR RULE OF HOODA GOVT, THERE WAS RAMPANT CORRUPTION, NEPOTISM AND CASTEISM. > CAPT ABHIMANYU, finance minister
after a delimitation order by the urban local bodies (ULB) contended that the city’s population was less than 10 lakh and the ward count needed to be revised from 35 to 33.