Dehradun, Aug. 19 -- Uttarakhand's only independent mayor, from Srinagar, Aarti Bhandari, along with ten councillors, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday.

BJP state president and Rajya Sabha lawmaker Mahendra Bhatt and cabinet minister Dhan Singh Rawat welcomed the new entrants, which included two Congress councillors from Srinagar, at a function at the party's state headquarters in Dehradun.

"The arrival of the mayor and 10 councillors has infused new energy into the party," Bhatt said, adding that the BJP would now work with renewed strength to secure a decisive victory in the 2027 assembly elections.

With Bhandari joining the BJP, the party now has mayors in 11 municipal corporations in the state. The party's mayora...