BJP’s Anup Gupta wins Chandigarh mayor poll by one vote, defeats AAP

He was first elected as a councillor in 2021.

Voting for the mayoral polls began at 11 am on Tuesday. A total of 29 votes were polled, out of which Gupta got 15 votes and AAP’s Jasbir Singh got 14 votes. Since, in the 35-member House, Congress and SAD abstained from voting, a candidate needed at least 15 votes to be elected mayor. The AAP had 14 votes and the BJP 15 (14+1 vote from the Member of Parliament – the ex-officio vote). The Congress had six votes and the SAD had one, but they abstained from voting. The mayor’s tenure is for a year.

The elections were conducted amid heavy police force and in the presence of Chandigarh Deputy Commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh. Before the voting began, the AAP questioned why nominated councillors – who did not have voting rights – were sitting in the House. However, DC Vinay Singh said there was no provision in the law which said they could not sit in the House during voting.

Then the AAP councillors said that only one colour of pen be used by presiding authority and the secretary as other markings then declare the vote invalid. It was then decided to have only blue-colour pen for their use.

After being elected, Gupta got the remaining polls conducted. BJP’s Kanwarjeet Rana too defeated AAP’s Taruna Mehta by one vote. Similarly, AAP’s Suman Sharma was defeated by BJP’s Harjit Singh for the post of deputy mayor by one vote. All BJP candidates got 15 votes while AAP’s candidates got 14 votes.

The richest candidate with net worth of Rs 45 crore

Gupta, a 38-year-old businessman, is the richest candidate of all. When he was elected as the councillor for the first time in 2021 MC elections, he and his wife had total assets worth Rs 45 crore.

A businessman by profession, he had immovable assets worth Rs 35.71 crore and movable assets of Rs 5.69 crore. His wife had movable assets of Rs 1.56 crore and immovable assets of Rs 25 lakh, when he had filed the nomination for the corporation elections in 2021.

Gupta owns various businesses in the city which include Kalka Ply Palace in sectors 22 and 7. He also owns a Hyundai agency in the Industrial Area of Chandigarh and invests money in properties. Also, a trustee of Bharat Vikas Parishad, an NGO and a sister concern of RSS, he owns a palatial house in Sector 28, Chandigarh.

He was first elected as a councillor in 2021 from ward no. 11 which covers sectors 18, 19 and 21. Known to be close to all top BJP leaders in Chandigarh, including Sanjay Tandon, city BJP chief Arun Sood and Chandigarh MP Kirron Kher, Gupta was elected deputy mayor in the previous poll, besides holding the post of BJP secretary. He is a BCom and law graduate.

BJP leader Sanjay Tandon was the first one to bring Gupta into politics.

Which leaders were present during polls?

From the BJP, Sanjay Tandon, city BJP chief Arun Sood, Devinder Singh Babla and former mayor Rajesh Kalia were present while from the AAP, Pardeep Chhabra, city AAP chief Prem Garg and others were present in the public gallery to view the elections.

Why did the Congress abstain from voting?

The Congress, which had taken its councillors to Kasauli, had accused both the BJP and AAP of “opening money bags to lure them”.

Congress spokesperson Rajiv Sharma said “such corrupt practices adopted by rival parties have tarnished the fair name of the City Beautiful” and “under the circumstances, the Congress has decided to keep away from the election and sit in the Opposition in order to expose the anti-people policies of the AAP and BJP”.

Last year, the BJP’s Sarabjit Kaur was declared mayor after a vote cast by the AAP was rendered invalid.

“Congress and SAD are working in connivance with the BJP to make them win polls. That is why they didn’t come and vote. This is how BJP won,” said city AAP president Prem Garg.

Sidelights

Just few minutes before the polling was to start, a rumour started doing the rounds that a Congress councillor will be coming to vote for AAP. However, the Congress denied all rumours. Issuing a statement in this regard, Congress spokesperson Rajiv Sharma said, “Chandigarh Congress has criticised the Aam Admi Party for spreading false rumours about one of the Congress councillors joining Aam Admi Party, hours before the election to the post of Chandigarh MC was to commence. The Aam Admi Party has learned the tricks of horse trading and is following in the footsteps of the BJP in this regard.”

The AAP objected as to why nominated councillors were sitting in the House when they had no voting rights.