BJP Sweeps Deputy Mayor Posts in Rajasthan Urban Bodies, Wins Six of Seven
The BJP won deputy mayor posts in six of seven Rajasthan municipal corporations, with two results decided by draw of lots and one unopposed.
The Bharatiya Janata Party extended its run in Rajasthan's urban local bodies on Tuesday, capturing deputy mayor posts in six of the seven municipal corporations where voting was held, a day after it swept the mayoral contests and polls for chairpersons of municipal councils and municipalities.
Elections were held across seven municipal corporations, 47 municipal councils and 251 municipalities. Counting at the council and municipality level continued into the evening, with trends pointing to a BJP lead in most places and the party appearing set to control a majority of the boards.
Two of the deputy mayor results went down to the wire. In Ajmer, BJP candidate Hemant Sankhla and Congress's Naurat Gurjar each polled 40 votes, forcing a draw of lots that went in favour of Mr. Sankhla. A similar tie occurred in Pali, where Congress-backed Independent Mahboob T. and BJP's Vikram Pal Singh secured 29 votes apiece; the prescribed procedure of drawing lots declared Mr. Mahboob elected, giving the Congress-supported candidate the sole non-BJP win of the day.
In Bikaner, the Congress had secured the mayor's post but lost the deputy mayor's seat to BJP's Pankaj Gehlot. BJP's Dinesh Bhatt defeated Congress's Lakshminarain Meghwal in Udaipur, while Ajay Poonia beat Mamta Saini in Alwar.
Ambika Saini won the deputy mayor's post in Bharatpur, the home district of Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma. The BJP's success there came despite Independent councillors having emerged as the largest group with victories in 65 wards in the recent local body elections.
In Bhilwara, Radheshyam Somani was elected unopposed as deputy mayor, a day after BJP's Jaswant Kanwar was returned unopposed as mayor of the industrial city.