Chandigarh, Dec 20 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday swept the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation elections by winning 20 of the 26 seats, thus retaining its control over the civic body.
The Corporation went to the polls on Sunday and the counting of ballots was held on Tuesday.
The Congress, which had won nine seats in the 2011 polls, was reduced to four seats, with all its former mayors -- Subhash Chawla, Harphool Kalyan, Poonam Sharma and Kamlesh -- facing defeat.
However, the BJP managed to win only one of the four seats it contested jointly with its ally Shiromani Akali Dal.
BJP rebel Dalip Sharma won as an independent.
BJP's sitting Mayor Arun Sood defeated his nearest rival Rajesh Sharma of the Congress by 2,077 votes.
In a house of 35 members, comprising nine Councillors with voting rights to be nominated by Chandigarh Administrator V.P. Singh Badnore, BJP MP Kirron Kher is an ex-officio member.
Among the other prominent losers were local Congress President Pardeep Chhabra's wife Ritu Chhabra, local SAD President Jagjit Singh Kang's wife Inderjit Kaur, BSP's City President Jagir Singh and sitting Councillor Saurabh Joshi of the BJP.
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) failed to open its account. It lost on all the 17 seats it contested.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a tweet said: "Thanks to the people of Chandigarh for supporting BJP & Akali Dal. This shows the importance people attach to good governance."
In the last house, the BJP had 15 Councillors, the Congress nine, BSP one and one Independent.
The Congress had made demonetisation of denomination a major issue in the polls.
