The ruling Congress on Tuesday won the posts of Mayor in four Municipal Corporations in Rajasthan’s three cities, which went to polls in two phases recently for the formation of Boards. The Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the posts in two civic bodies, where the newly-elected ward councillors voted to elect the Mayors.
Five of the six new Mayors were women. The urban local bodies for which the elections took place were Jaipur Heritage, Jaipur Greater, Jodhpur North, Jodhpur South, Kota North and Kota South Municipal Corporations. All the civic bodies comprise a total of 560 wards.
The State government had carried out delimitation of wards and bifurcated Municipal Corporations in the three cities in October last year, paving the way for two Mayors in each of them. The Congress had obtained clear majority in three of the corporations in the election results announced on November 3.
High drama was witnessed during voting by Councillors in Kota South when Congress and BJP workers clashed during the entry of an independent councillor. Police resorted to lathi charge to control the situation, leaving several workers from both the parties injured.
In Jaipur Heritage Municipal Corporation, Munesh Gujjar of the Congress defeated the BJP’s Kusum Yadav, while the BJP’s Saumya Gujjar defeated Divya Singh of the Congress in Jaipur Greater. Kunti Parihar of the Congress was elected Jodhpur North’s Mayor, defeating Sangeeta Solanki of the BJP.
In Jodhpur South Municipal Corporation, the BJP’s Vanita Seth became the Mayor after defeating Pooja Pareek of Congress. Manju Mehra of Congress won in Kota North, defeating the BJP’s Santosh Bairwa, while Rajiv Agarwal of the Congress won in Kota South by defeating the BJP’s Vivek Rajvanshi.
All the new Mayors took oath of office after the results were declared on Tuesday afternoon. The Congress had won in 261 wards and the BJP bagged 242 wards in the six Municipal Corporations, while Independents emerged victorious in 57 wards.
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Pradesh Congress Committee president Govind Singh Dotasra congratulated the new Mayors and expressed gratitude to the ward Councillors, party leaders and workers.
