BJP Wins Chandigarh Mayor Elections; INDIA Alliance Claims 'Tampering'
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)”s Manoj Sankar clinched victory in the Chandigarh mayor polls today by defeating the AAP-Congress candidate Kuldeep Singh. Sonkar secured 16 votes while Mr Kuldeep managed 12 votes. AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal attributed the win of BJP in the election to “cheating in broad light’. This was touted as the first direct contest between the INDIA bloc and NDA in an election before the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
Controversies enveloped the election when 8 votes were declared invalid. The win came amidst the opposition”s allegation against the presiding officer, Anil Masih for “deliberately” invalidating the votes. The presiding officer declared 16 votes in favor of BJP, 12 in favor of Congress-AAP and eight votes invalid all belonging to the opposition.
Immediately after the declaration of the results, the BJP candidate Manoj Sankar sat in the mayor”s seat ignoring the protest from the opposition who tried to stop him. Congress alleged the development in Chandigarh as brazen and shameless capture of the democratic system by the BJP.
“Brazen, shameless capture of the democratic system. Declaring opposition votes invalid to win the Mayor Election in Chandigarh shows that it is second nature for the BJP to override the democratic mandate. First they abruptly postponed the elections, and then devised a way to capture it. This is a warning for all those who are deluded into thinking that the Modi-led BJP will allow democracy to function if they win in 2024,” Congress general secretary in charge of organisation KC Venugopal said.
AAP Kejriwal responded by stating that if the BJP could “stoop so low” in mayoral elections, they can go to any extend to win the Lok Sabha elections. “The manner in which cheating has been done in broad daylight in the Chandigarh Mayor elections, is extremely worrying. If these people can stoop so low in a mayor”s election, then they can go to any extent in the country”s elections. This is very worrying,” Kejriwal wrote on X in Hindi.
चंडीगढ़ मेयर चुनाव में दिन दहाड़े जिस तरह से बेईमानी की गई है, वो बेहद चिंताजनक है। यदि एक मेयर चुनाव में ये लोग इतना गिर सकते हैं तो देश के चुनाव में तो ये किसी भी हद तक जा सकते हैं। ये बेहद चिंताजनक है।
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) January 30, 2024
The Chandigarh election was initially scheduled to be held on January 18. But it was indefinitely postponed due to the illness of the presiding officer. This delay sparked protests from members of the AAP and the Congress. The High Court of Punjab and Haryana intervened and ordered it to be held on January 30. The newly elected mayor will now hold the election for the posts of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor. The Congress party has fielded candidates for these posts, reports Hindustan Times.
AAP-Congress joint mayor candidate Kuldeep Kumar said that the eight votes were made deliberately invalid. He then alleged that unlike in the past, no representatives from BJP and the opposition group were called by the presiding officer to see the counting process and hence they will move to the court.
