CHANDIGARH: In yet another setback to the INDIA bloc after Bihar CM Nitish Kumar’s volta-face, the BJP won the Chandigarh mayoral election defeating the AAP-Congress candidate. The two parties had tied up for the first time as a part of the broader INDIA alliance.
The BJP with 14 councilors, managed to outpace AAP which had 13 councilors and the Congress seven. While the BJP polled 16 votes, the INDIA alliance got 12 after 8 votes were declared invalid.
AAP and Congress have filed a petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court highlighting concerns over the integrity of the election. The court will hear the matter on January 31. BJP’s winning candidate Manoj Sonkar is a class-VII pass-out and is a liquor baron. He defeated AAP-Congress Kuldeep Dhalor.
A high drama ensued at the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation House as the Opposition accused presiding officer Anil Masih of tampering with the polled votes while the counting was on. He walked out of the corporation house as voting for the senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor began. BJP nominees Kuljit Sandhu and Rajinder Sharma were respectively declared elected to the posts.
Hitting out at the BJP, Punjab CM Bhagwant Singh Mann said that January 30 will be remembered as the ‘darkest day’ for Indian democracy polity.
He said if the counting of 36 votes could not be held in a free and fair manner, the counting for the entire country in parliamentary polls would not take place impartially. He alleged the BJP had deliberately appointed the head of its minority wing as the presiding officer in these polls. Mann said the presiding officer jeopardized the constitutional process.
AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha and former Congress MP Pawan Bansal termed the polling “totally illegal.” Chadha said 8 out of 20 votes of the INDIA alliance were declared invalid, which is unprecedented in the history of Chandigarh mayoral polls. He alleged that the presiding officer himself tampered with the ballot papers.
AAP, Congress say polling ‘totally illegal’
AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha and ex-Congress MP Pawan Bansal termed the polling “totally illegal.” Chadha said 8 out of 20 votes of the INDIA alliance were declared invalid. Senior Chandigarh BJP leader Sanjay Tandon said the AAP-Congress councilors did not vote for their own candidate.