Srinagar: Junaid Azim Mattu of Peoples Conference was elected Mayor of the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) on Tuesday.
Mattu secured 40 votes while Congress candidate for the mayoral post Ghulam Rasool Hajam got 26 votes in the 74-member SMC, officials said.
Four votes were found invalid, officials said.
Mattu had earlier been affiliated with Peoples Conference but had a brief stint with National Conference too wherefrom he resigned when the party decided to boycott UBL and Panchayat polls.
Mattu contested the SMC election from four wards, winning from three of them.
He was announced as the mayoral candidate by Peoples Conference chairman Sajad Gani Lone hours after the election results were declared on October 20.
Meanwhile, Sheikh Imran, an independent corporator backed by Congress was elected Deputy Mayor SMC.
Officials said that Imran won Dy Mayor post by one vote.
Sheikh Imran has bagged 35 votes while as his rival bagged 34, officials said, adding that one vote was rejected.
Meanwhile, Junaid Azim Mattu, the newly-elected Mayor of Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC), on Tuesday said his election was a message to those political parties which treated mainstream politics as their fiefdom.
Mattu, a Peoples Conference candidate contested the SMC election as Independent from four wards and won from three of them.
“This is a historic election and a change has begun which will not remain confined to Srinagar only. This is a message to those traditional exploiters who had made mainstream politics their territorial asset,” Mattu told reporters here after he was elected as the mayor.
He alleged that while the NC and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) boycotted the ULB polls, they tried to influence the mayoral election.
“The local bodies elections was ‘haraam’ (forbidden) but mayoral election was ‘halaal’ (permissible) for them. They have been discredited and completely exposed,” he said.
Mattu said he would work towards making Srinagar a world-class tourist city and his priority will be to improve the quality of life and enhance the dignity of the residents.
He was also supported by the BJP, which is an ally of the PC.
