Chandigarh, Jan. 6 -- BJP's Harpreet Kaur Babla, 60, pulled off a dramatic victory on January 30, 2025, defeating the AAP-Congress joint candidate, Prem Lata, by just two votes. This was despite the numbers being stacked against her; the BJP held only 16 votes against the opposition's 20. Her win, facilitated by cross-voting from three members of the alliance, set the tone for a year of intense partisan hostility.

No stranger to the Union Territory's complex political landscape, her transition from a homemaker to a two-time councillor was guided by her husband, Devinder Singh Babla, a former Congress heavyweight and now BJP vice-president. The Babla couple defected to the BJP in early 2022, just days after Harpreet won her seat on a Cong...