Congress, which had won nine seats in 2021, was down by three, while the BJP improved its position from seven to 10.
Prominent losers comprised Congress’ outgoing Mayor Usha Sharma, who contested as an independent and former Mayor Punam Grover, besides the BJP’s outgoing Deputy Mayor Meera Anand.
Women continued their dominance by bagging 12 seats with four sitting women councillors – Sushma Sharma, Puja, Seema and Rekha – being re-elected.
Males have been reduced to a minority of six. BJP candidate Neelam won from Ward Number 1, where she defeated Congress’ Archana Thakur by 164 votes.
BJP’s Sushma Sharma retained Ward Number 2 in a triangular contest, where she defeated her nearest rival, Ramesh Bansal, an independent, by 13 votes, pushing Congress’ Sunil Sahni to the third position.
In Ward Number 3, BJP rebel Gaurav Rajput defeated Congress’ Sardar Singh by 163 votes while BJP’s official candidate Piyush Garg finished a poor third.
Rajput had jumped into the poll fray after his wife Rajni, a sitting councilor, was denied the party ticket.
BJP’s Rohit Bhardwaj defeated Congress’ sitting councillor Sangeeta Thakur in Ward Number 4 by 213 votes. In Ward Number 5, BJP candidate Priyanka defeated Congress’ Gitanjali Sharma by 200 votes, while in Ward Number 6, BJP’s sitting councillor Rekha Sahni defeated Congress’ Satya Verma by 212 votes.
In Ward Number 7, Congress’ sitting councillor Puja defeated BJP’s Ashok Thakur by 168 votes, while in Ward Number 8, BJP’s greenhorn Surinder Kumar humbled Congress’ former Mayor Punam Grover by 16 votes.
Congress’ Minakshi Sharma registered an impressive victory in Ward Number 9, where she defeated BJP’s Salita Sharma by 223 votes.
In Ward Number 10, Congress’ city president Ankush Sood defeated BJP’s Virender Sood by 80 votes. BJP’s Sarita Thakur defeated Congress’ Hema Sharma by 130 votes in Ward Number 11.
In Ward Number 12, Congress’ outgoing Mayor Usha Sharma lost in a triangular contest to BJP’s Priyanka Aggarwal by 70 votes while Congress’ official nominee Ishwar Dutta fared in third position. Sharma had contested as an independent after being denied the party’s ticket.
BJP’s outgoing Deputy Mayor Meera Anand lost to Congress’ Narinder by 37 votes in Ward Number 13.
In Ward Number 14, Congress’ Sulakshna Kaura registered an impressive victory against BJP’s Meena. Kaura won by 510 votes. She is the mother of the sitting councillor Rajiv Kaura, a former deputy mayor of the Congress.
BJP’s Abhishek Thakur defeated Congress’ Vinay Bhagnal by 88 votes in Ward Number 15, while in Ward Number 16, BJP’s sitting councillor Seema retained her seat and defeated Congress by the highest margin of 524 votes. In Ward Number 17, Congress’ Aruna defeated BJP’s Taruna by 343 votes.