Having been unceremoniously removed through a no-confidence motion in June, Junaid Azim Mattu staged a comeback as Mayor of the Srinagar Municipal Corporation on Wednesday when he bagged 62% votes in the re-election for the post.
Mattu was previously associated with the National Conference (NC) and the Peoples Conference (PC).
He got votes of 44 councilors out of 70, announced SMC secretary Akbar Lone.
The total strength of SMC council is 74 out of which four seats are vacant. Mattu defeated former deputy mayor Sheikh Imran while the third contestant, Aijaz Rasool of Congress withdrew from the contest during voting.
Imran got seven votes while 19 councilors abstained from voting.
The Congress had asked Rasool to withdraw and issued a whip to its 16 councilors to vote in favour of Imran.
He had claimed after losing the no-confidence that the BJP and National Conference had joined hands to remove him. Interestingly, he had won the 2018 elections with the BJP’s support.