Baramulla: Masarat Nissar Kar, a National Conference councilor, was elected chairperson of Municipal Council Sopore in north Kashmir’s Baramulla while Mohammad Yousuf Radoo, also a national conference councilor, was elected vice-chairperson on Saturday.
Kar defeated her opponent Irfan Ali by a margin of six votes. An official said that out of 18 councillors, 12 voted in favour of kar while her opponent Irfan Ali polled only six votes.
As for the VC post, Radoo got 12 votes while his opponent Abdul Ahad Malla got six votes thereby winning by a margin of six votes.
On the occasion, Masarat Kar while thanking the councillors for electing her, said that she will give better civic amenities to the residents of Sopore town.
“I, along with the entire team of Municipal Council Sopore including councillors, will ensure that we provide better civic facilities in the town and our focus will be to provide proper sanitation besides neat and clean atmosphere to the town residents,” said Kar.
The post of the chairperson MC Sopore had fallen vacant after the majority of the councillors moved a successful no-confidence motion against the former chairman Abdul Ahad Malla in January 2021.
The elections for the 13 vacant wards of Municipal Council Sopore were held in December 2020 and National Conference bagged 10 seats while two independent candidates and a PDP candidate also registered their victory.
It is pertinent to mention here that Municipal Council Sopore has 21 municipal wards. Two councilors — Riyaz Ahmad Pir and Shams-U-Din Pir besides the PSO of another councilor Shafqat Nazir Khan — were killed in a militant attack in March 2021. Out of the remaining 19, eighteen voted in today’s election while one councillor did not participate in the voting.
