Ludhiana, March 27: Four-time councillor Balkar Singh Sandhu, 63, was on Monday unanimously elected as the sixth mayor of the Ludhiana municipal corporation. Sham Sunder Malhotra was elected senior deputy mayor and Saravjit Kaur deputy mayor.
The elections to the MC were held on February 24 and the results were declared on February 27. The Congress has 62 councillors in the 95-member House. The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) won 11 seats, BJP 10, Lok Insaaf Party seven while the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) could manage only one seat.
Councillors Gurdeep Singh Neetu and Mamta Aashu proposed Sandhu’s name which was backed by all Congress members. Sandhu, a councillor from ward number 78, owes allegiance to MP Ravneet Bittu and MLA Bharat Bhushan Ashu group. District Congress chief Gurpreet Gogi, Jai Prakash and Pal Singh Grewal were also in the race for the coveted post.
In his last tenure as a councillor, Sandhu was member of the MC’s finance and contracts committee and also leader of opposition in the House. Both Malhotra and Kaur are two-time councillors.
Akali Dal district chief Ranjit Singh Dhillon said party president Sukhbir Singh Badal has been authorised to appoint the leader of opposition in the House.
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