BJP Councillor elected as Mayor of Amritsar

Amritsar, Sep 6 (UNI) BJP Councillor Shwet Malik was today elected unopposed as Mayor of the holy city.

The name of Mr Malik was proposed by Avtar Singh (SAD) and seconded by Raman Mahajan (BJP) in the first meeting of the newly elected members of the Municipal Corporation here. The Congress members staged a walkout just prior to the meeting alleging that the entire process was undemocratic as 72 hour prior notice of the election was not given to the elected Councillors.

Mr Ajaybir Singh and Kashmir Singh, both of SAD were unanmiously elected Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor respectively. Mr Malik is the fourth Mayor of the holy city and the third BJP member to occupy this post.

In the August eight MC polls, the SAD-BJP combine had won 32 seats in the 65-member house. The combine also has the backing of a majority of the 11 independent members. The Congress has 21 members in the house while the CPI has one.

The election was held in the presence of Jalandhar Divisional Commissioner S R Ladhar, who also administered the oath to all the Councillors.

Health Minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla, who represents Amritsar Central constituency in the state assembly, BJP MLA from Amritsar North, Arun Joshi and SAD MLA from Amritsar South, Raminder Singh Bolaria were also present in the house. All three are members of the MC by virtue of being the local MLAs.

UNI