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By Manjeet Sehgal: The ruling Congress on Thursday won 24 out of a total of 34 wards in the Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC) elections held on May 2.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which won nine wards, was pushed to the second position. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPIM) could just win a single seat and that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) could not even win a single seat.
There were a total of 102 candidates in the fray.
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Shimla Municipal Corporation elections were first held in 1986. Till 2007, the Congress ruled the civic body, but in 2012, the CPIM-backed candidate became the mayor. Interestingly, the BJP and Congress won 13 and 10 wards respectively.
In 2017, the BJP by winning 17 out of a total 34 wards had its mayor. This time both the mayor and deputy mayor will be from the Congress.
Reacting to the party’s victory in civic body elections, Congress leader Priyanka Vadra said in a tweet that the historic victory of the Congress party in the Shimla Municipal Corporation elections is the victory of the policies of the Congress and its dedication to the people.
She also thanked the people of Shimla for trusting the party.
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The BJP which had won 17 wards in 2017, lost eight wards in 2023. The Congress managed to win 12 additional wards.
Reacting to the party’s victory, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Suku said, “Shimla was a mini Himachal Pradesh and winning this important corporation after a decade was the party’s big achievement. The party has won people’s trust.”
Shimla Municipal Corporation is one of the oldest civic bodies in the country. It was first constituted as a municipal committee in December 1851.
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