Kusum Sardet of the BJP was elected as the Mayor of Shimla on Tuesday as the party created history by bagging the post for the first time.
With numbers on its side, the position of the Deputy Mayor of the Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC) also went to the BJP.
The municipal election results are significant as they come at a time when the State Assembly polls in the hill State of Himachal Pradesh are less than six months away.
Kusum, a housewife, a first time councillor from Annadale polled 19 votes, while the Congress nominee, Simmi Anand could get only 13 votes. One vote of Congress councillor was declared invalid. The lone CPM councillor, Shelly Sharma stayed away from the meeting.
For the post of Deputy Mayor, Rakesh Sharma sprung another surprise when he polled 20 votes, one more than expected. Rakesh, who had contested MC elections as a BJP rebel from Panthaghati defeated Congress nominee Anand Kaushal by a margin of 7 votes. The BJP nominees getting 20 votes made it clear that a Congress councillor had cross voted against own party.
After being elected Mayor, Kusum Sadret said improving potable water supply in the city would be her first priority. She said parking and sanitary problems would be solved in the city.
Amidst speculations of horse trading, BJP had kept its councillors at secret locations for past three days. While the saffron party, which had won 17 seats in the MC elections has succeeded in crossing the majority mark in the house with the support of independent candidates, the results of Deputy Mayor elections, particularly have raised an alarm for the ruling Congress in the state.
Having suffered another shock in the house, Congress spokesperson Naresh Chauhan said that it was unfortunate that a congress councillor voted for the BJP nominee in the Deputy Mayor election and party will find out the person who had crossed the party line.
The election of a BJP Mayor and Deputy Mayor is being considered a big success for the BJP ahead of the Assembly polls later this year. Though the Shimla MC elections did not reflect a wave in favour of any party, but the defeat in the civic body elections, is being seen as a jolt to the Congress.
Himachal Pradesh, has a history of changing its guard, every five years. Suffering a defeat in the state capital, Congress seems to be on back foot for the time. But as the BJP could win only 17 wards in a house of 34, it is difficult to say if there is a wave in its favour.