Shimla’s Mayor & Deputy Mayor Gets Full-Term Extension as Cabinet Scraps Rotation Rule
In a move that’s reshaping Shimla’s civic leadership, the Himachal Pradesh Cabinet has extended the tenure of the Mayor and Deputy Mayor of the Shimla Municipal Corporation from two-and-a-half years to a full five-year term. This decision means Mayor Surinder Chauhan and Deputy Mayor Uma Kaushal will now remain in office until 2028, steering the Congress-led civic body through its complete term.
The announcement came after a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, and it’s already making waves in the local political scene. For Chauhan, a three-time councillor from Chotta Shimla and a close ally of the Chief Minister, the extension is a vote of confidence in his leadership since taking charge in 2023.
Until now, Shimla’s top municipal posts operated under a rotation system introduced in 2016, which split the five-year MC term into two halves. With Chauhan and Kaushal’s terms recently ending, murmurs of internal lobbying and fresh elections had begun to surface. But the Cabinet’s decision has put those speculations to rest.
“I’m grateful to the state government for its trust,” Chauhan said, promising to continue working for Shimla’s development with “full dedication and honesty.”
The ruling Congress has defended the move as a step toward “administrative continuity,” while the BJP has slammed it as an “undemocratic attempt to cling to power.”
As the dust settles, Shimla’s residents will be watching closely to see how this extended leadership term shapes the city’s future.
