Junaid Mattu is new Srinagar Mayor

Srinagar, Nov 6: Junaid Mattu, a former National Conference leader who contested the urban local body polls in Jammu and Kashmir as an independent, has been elected as Srinagar's Mayor. Mattu was elected Mayor of the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) with the support from the BJP and the Peoples Conference, said reports.

Mattu resigned from the primary membership of the National Conference (NC) in September after the party decided not to contest the urban local body polls.

He contested the SMC election as Independent from four wards, winning from three of them and was announced as the mayoral candidate by Peoples Conference chairman Sajad Gani Lone hours after the election results were declared on October 20.

The Congress emerged as the single largest party in the SMC with 16 seats but fell way short of 38, the number of seats required to take control of the corporation.

While the Peoples Conference had four, the BJP had five candidates elected to the corporation. There are 53 Independent corporators.

In September, Mattu slammed the NC's decision to boycott Jammu and Kashmir civic polls and tweeted his resignation.

Mattu started his political career with People's Conference, led by Sajad Gani Lone, when the latter abandoned separatist politics to join mainstream in 2009. Mattu parted ways with Lone's party in 2013 to join the National Conference.