Junaid Azim Mattu was on Tuesday removed as Srinagar Mayor after he lost the no-confidence motion that was moved against him by an independent Councilor of Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC)
As per the details, 41 Councilors including deputy Mayor attended the special session that was summoned in the wake of the motion. All 40 councilors voted against Mattu while deputy mayor who was presiding over the session was only required to vote in case of tie.
The voting was held amid the boycott by Congress and National Conference. Some independent Councilors also abstained from the voting.
Mattu did not attend the session. He, however, took to twitter to announce the outcome of the no-confidence motion.
“The vote of ‘No Confidence Motion’ against me, and the @JKPC_ has been passed in the SMC with 42 votes out of 70. The @BJP4India , @JKNC_ and some independents have polled against the @JKPC_ and @INCIndia abstaining whip where 28 Corporators abstained,” Mattu tweeted.
SMC Commissioner Gazanfar Ali confirmed that of 70 Councilors, only 41 including the deputy Mayor were present and 40 of them voted against Mattu. Another 29 Councilors did not attend the session.
Mattu said he was taking the verdict with “humility and his chin up.”
“For those who know me – they would know that I take this verdict with humility and my chin up! I am committed to serving the people of Srinagar to the best of my abilities now and also in the future,” he tweeted.
An independent Coporator had on June 11 moved the no-confidence motion against the Mayor. Accompanied by some other Corporators, he submitted the no-confidence motion to the Commissioner SMC for initiating the process.
This was the second such motion in less than six months against the Srinagar Mayor.
In December 2019, the no-confidence motion was moved against Mattu which was supported by BJP. However, Mattu had successfully proved the numbers on the floor.
On 23 December 2019, Deputy Mayor Sheikh Imran was removed from the post after he lost the floor test, with majority of Councilors voting against him.
Meanwhile, BJP’s Kashmir unit on Tuesday said the party had no personal interests in removal of the former Mayor, but it has “zero-tolerance” to corruption.
In a statement, the party’s Kashmir media in-charge Manzoor Bhat said there was “no personal interests involved in removing SMC Mayor but people were suffering due to corruption and other things in the city.”
“We were not against you, but primarily we were against corruption as the party has zero-tolerance to corruption,” said Bhat.