Srinagar Mayor, Junaid Azim Mattu was defeated on Tuesday as the no confidence motion against him was supported by 42 votes among the 70 councillors of the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC).
Interestingly, some of the councillors owing allegiance to the National Conference (NC) and some independents also voted against Mattu.
The NC councillors apparently did so in defiance to the whip of their party leadership to abstain from the voting process.
The dissidents against Mattu were led by former SMC Deputy Mayor, Sheikh Imran.
Mattu belongs to the Peoples Conference led by Sajad Gani Lone, former minister.
National Conference vice president and former Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah had made it clear that in no case would the NC go along with the BJP during the voting process against the Mayor.
The BJP, which has 27 members in the SMC, had stated that it would indirectly support the vote against Mattu.
Accepting the verdict, Mattu said on his twitter handle, “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 alleged in another comment that the vote against him proved a tacit understanding between the BJP and the NC despite what Omar Abdullah had stated.
“I respect the verdict of the Corporation.
“The seemingly unthinkable seems to have happened as @JKNC_ and @BJP4India have come together in Srinagar. But more on that later.
“Time to spend some time with my family after nearly four months of our war against #COVID19”, Mattu said in another comment.