Mudassir Kuloo
Srinagar, Nov 6: Former National Conference leader Junaid Mattu was on Tuesday elected Mayor of the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC).
Mattu had filed his nomination papers for election to the post as candidate of the Peoples’ Conference.
The counting for the election of Mayor began in the morning.
Mattu managed to get 40 votes while as Congress’ candidate got 26. Four votes were declared invalid.
Mattu had contested the polls from ward No 14, 18 and 65 of the Srinagar Municipal Corporation.
Congress backed independent candidate Sheikh Imran was elected Deputy Mayor.
He got 35 votes while his nearest rival Saleem Lone, an independent, got 34 votes, while one vote got rejected.
After the results were announced, Mattu addressed the media, and said that he would work for the development of Srinagar.
“I will work for the dignity and security of Srinagar. I will turn Srinagar into a model city,” he said.
Asked that BJP had supported him for the Mayor, he replied, “Mehbooba Mufti was also heading the PDP-BJP government and was nothing wrong in it. Now I got their support and political parties have the problem. It is the people decide whom to get elected.”
Mattu, who was a member of the Peoples Conference before he joined the National Conference (NC) and remained its spokesman for many years. In the run-up to the Municipal Polls, he quit the party and contested independently from four wards in Srinagar. He lost at one ward and won from three other wards in a low polled election.
Mattu has joined Sajad Lone-led Peoples Conference after quitting the NC.
The Congress state chief had said that Mayoral election is a contest between “secularism and communalism”.
After the results, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) general secretary Ram Madhav congratulated Mattu for being elected as the Mayor of SMC.
He took to his Twitter handle to congratulate Mattu and Sajad Gani Lone over the SMC post.
“Junaid Mattoo, independent supported by Sajjad Lone’s People’s Conference and BJP has won d Mayor post of Srinagar. He polled against d combined candidate of PDP, NC and Congress by 40 votes to 26 votes. Congrats Junaid and Sajjad n all Corporators,” Madhav wrote.
Mattu will have the powers to access to the record of the Corporation and issue directions to the Commissioner or other functionaries of the Corporation or call for reports from them with a view to ensuring proper implementation of the decision of the Corporation.
The Mayor shall have such powers as may be necessary to carry out the purposes to implement the decisions of the Corporation.
The Mayor shall be the ex-officio member and also the Chairman of the General Functions Committee and the Deputy Mayor shall be the ex-officio member and Chairman of the Finance and Planning Committee.
When the office of the Mayor is vacant, the Deputy Mayor shall act as the Mayor until a new Mayor is elected.
However, Mattu’s election as Mayor of the SMC has been clouded by remarks of Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik during an interview to a private TV channel last month.
Malik had, without naming Mattu, said Srinagar was getting “foreign educated mayor” which would send jitters among the regional parties such as the NC and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which did not take part in the elections.
The political parties had said the Governor’s remarks had put question mark on the whole election process.
The NC and the PDP boycotted the election over the issue of Article 35-A, which according special powers to the state legislature with regard to permanent residents of the state.
