Advocate Altaf Ahmed Lone who had contested as an independent candidate for municipal committee Ganderbal has been elected as president of the committee with Congress support. Sajad Ahmed Mir of Congress has been elected as vice-president.
An official told Greater Kashmir that Altaf got 10 votes out of 17 and defeated independent candidate Abdul Majeed Mir, while as Sajad Ahmed Mir got 10 votes and defeated Jeelani Ahmed, an independent candidate.
The election process was held in town hall Ganderbal under the supervision of additional district development commissioner Nazir Ahmed Baba.
Independents had gained a majority in the recently concluded ULB polls in Ganderbal. Ganderbal municipal committee has a total of 17 wards in which Congress won 2 wards while as BJP won 2 and independent candidates secured 13 wards.
Meanwhile, in a surprise development, two candidates of Jammu Kashmir youth alliance (JKYA) headed by BJP’s Khalid Jehangir voted in favour of Advocate Altaf, sources told Greater Kashmir.
Sources said that it was a turning point as two candidates of JKYA backed by BJP’s Khalid Jehangir ditched the party and voted against it.
Sources further said that soon after the winning candidates were declared, they floated a party with the name ‘Peoples Party’ and vowed to work for the welfare and development of the Ganderbal town.
Talking to Greater Kashmir, Advocate Altaf said that his priority would be to mitigate the issues confronting the people in the town.
District president Congress Sahil Farooq has congratulated the newly elected president of the committee.