Junaid Azim Mattu on Wednesday became Mayor of the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) for the second time in a row.
Mattu polled a total number of 44 votes in a house of 70 members while his nearest rival Sheikh Imran could garner only 7 votes. Nineteen other members abstained during voting. Mattu was ousted from the same post through a no-confidence motion in June 2020.
Previously associated with the Peoples Conference, Mattu contested the polls as an independent candidate with tacit support from the like minded corporators.
During the polling the rival candidate created ruckus inside the house and prevented members from casting open ballots.
On the intervention of the election authorities and security personnel deployed for election duty the situation was contained.
Thanking his supporters Mattu said, “I am happy they have trusted me once again and voted in my favour to lead the SMC”.
Taking a dig at the National Conference for creating road blocks and preventing him from contesting the polls, Mattu said first they went to the court to stop these elections but when their plea was rejected they tried to scuttle the democratic process. He said, “I am happy I won the polls”.”Democracy prevailed”, he added.