BJP's candidates elected Mayor, Deputy Mayor of Jammu Municipal Corporation in one-sided contest [details]

Amid a boycott of polling by Congress corporators, Rajinder Sharma and Baldev Singh Billoria of BJP were elected Mayor and Deputy Mayor respectively of the Jammu Municipal Corporation in a one-sided contest.

Although the BJP and the Congress were in a straight contest for the posts of Mayor and Deputy Mayor, elections were just a formality after Congress announced to boycott the polling just before the beginning of the process.

 Commissioner of the Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) Rahul Yadav announced that Rajinder Sharma was elected as Mayor and Baldev Singh as Deputy Mayor.

A total of 59 votes were polled — 57 went to BJP candidate Rajinder Sharma, one vote was declared invalid and one vote went to the Congress candidate.

For the post of Deputy Mayor, the BJP candidate defeated Sonika Sharma of the Congress.

BJP's Mayor and Dy Mayor resigned amid infighting on September 24

Earlier on September 24, the Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) resigned after they faced opposition from their party councillors. They also faced charges of corruption from opposition.

Mayor Chander Mohan Gupta and Deputy Mayor Purnima Sharma resigned following opposition from their own BJP councillors for alleged infighting that was creating hurdles in the normal functioning of the civil body.

Chander Mohan Gupta and Purnima Sharma took over their respective posts on November 15, 2018, after the BJP won the civic body during the Urban Local Bodies elections which were held in four phases from October 8-16 in 2018 after a gap of 13 years.

In the 75-member Jammu Municipal Corporation, the BJP has 44 corporators, the Congress 13 corporators and the rest are Independents.

Congress opposed shift from "secret ballot to open ballot"

Irked over the decision of the authorities to change the procedure of voting from a secret ballot to an open ballot Congress corporators boycotted the polling giving a cakewalk to the BJP.

"We were forced to boycott the elections due to undemocratic means adopted by the authorities. There is no reason to change the procedure of voting from a secret ballot to an open ballot", Dwarka Nath Choudhary, the Congress mayoral candidate, who polled one vote despite a boycott, told media persons.

He said that it was due to the fear of cross-voting that the BJP-controlled administration has changed the procedure of secret polling to an open ballot.

"Although we did not have the majority, we put up candidates for the contest. The change of procedure from secret voting to open ballot was undemocratic. It had not been done in the past.

This undemocratic step forced us to boycott it", chief spokesman of J&K Congress Ravinder Sharma said.

Two candidates each — Rajinder Sharma and Baldev Singh of the BJP and Dwarka Nath Choudhary and Sonika Sharma of the Congress — submitted their papers for the two posts on the last day of the filing of nominations on October 17, officials said.

Chander Mohan Gupta and Purnima Sharma took over their respective posts on November 15, 2018, after the BJP won the civic body during the Urban Local Bodies elections which were held in four phases from October 8-16 in 2018 after a gap of 13 years.