The BJP on Friday swept the mayoral polls of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation with its candidate Raj Bala Malik being elected as the new city mayor. This is her second stint as mayor – in 2012, she was named mayor after winning as a Congress candidate. She switched over to the BJP in 2016.
Mrs. Raj Bala Malik has connections in Toronto. Her daughter Vivekta Singh is a lawyer in Toronto and her nephew Virender Rathi is a lawyer in Mississauga.
Malik, an advocate, trounced Congress nominee Gurbax Rawat, officials said. She was polled 22 votes while Rawat got five votes, the officials said.
Malik was the city mayor in 2012 and at that time she was with the Congress.
The posts of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor were also won by BJP candidates.
Malik is married to RK Malik, a senior advocate in the Punjab and Haryana high court (HC). She was elected to the House for the first time as a Congress candidate in 2011. She became the mayor the very next year.
The mayor’s post this year was reserved for a woman candidate. A mayor has a one-year term in Chandigarh.