Chandigarh mayoral polls: Congress, AAP protest against presiding officer for 'tampering' with ballots
CHANDIGARH: The Congress and the AAP on Wednesday jointly held a protest here, a day after the BJP swept the Chandigarh mayoral polls.
During the protest, councillors of the Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress shouted slogans against the BJP, claiming "murder of democracy" during the mayoral polls which took place on Tuesday.
The protesters gathered near the Sector 17 police station here to lodge a police complaint in connection with the mayoral polls. The venue of the protest is also close to the municipal corporation building.
Heavy police force was deployed and barricades were erected near the police station.
The protesters demanded action against presiding officer Anil Masih, accusing him of tampering with some ballot papers during the polls which resulted in declaration of eight votes as invalid.
"If there is any threat to democracy in the country, it is from the BJP," said AAP leader S S Ahluwalia.
Senior Congress leader Pawan Kumar Bansal, Chandigarh Congress president H S Lucky and several AAP leaders joined the protest.
"We have given a complaint to the police. This is against the presiding officer and the manner in which the election was conducted," Lucky told reporters.
He said the complaint has been given by AAP's Kuldeep Kumar, who was the joint candidate of AAP-Congress alliance for the post of mayor.
"We have mentioned the entire episode and how public mandate was robbed. There is a video footage of the entire thing," he said.
"Be it the court of law or the people's court, we will not let this matter rest like this. What has happened in the mayoral polls is a murder of democracy," he added.
Bansal said it was unthinkable that eight councillors will not know how to cast their vote and eight such votes will be declared invalid.
"The people of the country have watched the entire video. Can anyone say there is no tampering?" asked Bansal.
In a setback to the Congress-AAP alliance, the BJP on Tuesday had swept the Chandigarh mayoral polls, retaining all the three posts. The Congress and the AAP alleged tampering with ballot papers by the presiding officer.
The councillors of the two INDIA bloc parties created a ruckus in the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation House after the result for the mayor's post was declared. They boycotted the next phase elections to the posts of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor.
BJP candidate Manoj Sonkar defeated AAP's Kuldeep Kumar for the mayor's post, polling 16 votes against the 12 bagged by his rival. Eight votes were declared as invalid.
BJP nominees Kuljit Sandhu and Rajinder Sharma were declared elected to the posts of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor respectively as they secured 16 votes each.
The opposition councillors alleged that there was tampering with the ballot papers in the elections, a charge rubbished by the BJPThe AAP has also moved the Punjab and Haryana high court and sought the setting aside of Tuesday's election, alleging tampering of ballot papers and demanding fresh elections under the supervision of a retired high court judge.