BJP’s Saurav Joshi is new Mayor of Chandigarh
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in News/ January 29,2026
BJP candidate Saurav Joshi emerged victorious in the Chandigarh mayoral election held on Thursday. The voting process was conducted under the supervision of presiding officer Ramneek Singh Bedi.
The mayoral term for 2026 will be the fifth and final term of the current five-year municipal corporation, which has been in effect since 2022. For this term, the mayor’s post is reserved for the general category.
Joshi received 18 votes against 11 for the AAP’s Yogesh Dhingra and seven for Gurpreet Singh Sabi from the Congress.To win the mayoral election, a candidate needs 19 votes in the 35-councillor house.
The BJP has 18 councillors, all of whom voted for their candidate. The AAP has 11 and the Congress seven, which includes a vote from its Chandigarh MP – Manish Tewari. A Congress–AAP alliance, which could have resulted in an 18–18 tie, was the only scenario that might have prevented the BJP from winning the election outright. In the event of such a tie, the rules provide for the result to be decided by a coin toss.
However, the possibility of an alliance was ruled out last week when the Aam Aadmi Party dismissed reports of a tie-up with the Congress, accusing the party of having “looted the country.” AAP leader Anurag Dhanda stated that there could “never” be an alliance with the Congress, coming just days after Congress leaders had claimed they were in discussions with the AAP.
The infighting between the former alliance partners (AAP-Congress) benefited BJP and its candidate easily won the elections.
Saurav Joshi is a brother of Vineet Joshi who is state media head, BJP, Punjab
