After its victory in the mayoral contests and polling for chairpersons of municipal councils and municipalities in Rajasthan on Monday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) continued its winning spree for the posts of deputy heads of urban bodies on Tuesday.

The ruling party maintained its dominance in the urban local bodies by winning the seats of deputy mayors in six of the seven municipal corporations where the polling was held. A Congress-supported Independent councillor was elected in Pali.

Besides seven municipal corporations, the polling was held in 47 municipal councils and 251 municipalities.

Draw of lots

Despite securing the mayoral post in Bikaner, the Opposition Congress lost the deputy mayor’s seat to BJP’s Pankaj Gehlot. In Ajmer, BJP’s Hemant Sankhla and Congress’s Naurat Gurjar received 40 votes each, after which the decision was taken through the draw of lots, resulting in the victory for Mr. Sankhla.

Congress-supported Independent Mahboob T. was also declared elected through draw of lots in the Pali Municipal Corporation. Mr. Mahboob and BJP’s Vikram Pal Singh secured 29 votes each, after which the result was announced through the prescribed procedure.

BJP’s Dinesh Bhatt defeated Congress candidate Lakshminarain Meghwal in Udaipur, while BJP’s Ajay Poonia defeated Congress’s Mamta Saini in Alwar. BJP’s Ambika Saini won as the deputy mayor in Bharatpur, which is the home district of Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma. The BJP succeeded in Bharatpur Municipal Corporation despite the Independent councillors having formed the largest group by winning in 65 wards in the local body elections held recently.

BJP’s Radheshyam Somani was elected unopposed as the deputy mayor in Bhilwara Municipal Corporation. On Monday, BJP’s Jaswant Kanwar was also elected unopposed as the mayor in the industrial city.

The counting of votes at the municipal councils and municipalities was in progress till late in the evening, while the trends indicated the BJP’s lead at majority of the places, where it was likely to form the boards.