The Congress party also bagged the posts of the senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor with its candidates, Rana Kashmiri Devi and Satish Kainth, winning the respective elections.
Union Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, who is the Chandigarh MP and ex-officio member of the municipal corporation, was present and cast his vote in the election.
Chawla, who is considered close to Bansal, got 24 votes in the 36-member corporation. His opponent, Arun Sood of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) got 12 votes.
While the Congress has 13 councillors in the house, the BJP-Shiromani Akali Dal combine has 11 members. Nine members are nominated. Two members are of the Bahujan Samaj Party and one is an independent.
Chawla, who has been mayor of Chandigarh earlier also, takes over as mayor from Raj Bala Malik, whose tenure ended Monday (Dec 31).
The term of the Chandigarh mayor is for one year.
