Chandigarh: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is heading for a setback as speculations are rife that three of its councillors would be joining the BJP.
According to sources, the three councilors of AAP are going to join BJP in Delhi or Gurugram. The induction of one male and two female councillors will take place in front of Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and senior party leaders. Among the three councilors, there is one who was earlier in the BJP and had defected to AAP.
The hearing of the Chandigarh mayor election case will be held at the Supreme Court on Monday. A three-judge bench presided over by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud has asked presiding officer, Anil Masih, to appear at the next hearing on February 19.
Prior to which, mayor Manoj Sonkar of BJP is likely to resign from his post. The Congress and AAP had been demanding Sonkar's removal ever since election were held on January 30.
The court had earlier observed that the mayor election was a "mockery of democracy" and stated that it would not allow "democracy to be murdered". Now if the three councillors defect to BJP and re-election is ordered then the saffron party will have a majority against AAP-Congress alliance.
The switchover of three AAP councillors will increase BJP's vote share from 14 to 17 and subsequently decrease AAP's vote share from 13 to 10. BJP's Sonkar bagged 16 votes in the MC House, which includes the votes of the sole Akali Dal councillor and MP Kiran Khair while eight votes of the opposition AAP-Congress were rejected.
Now, even if AAP contests with the Congress, which has seven councillors, it will have a total of 17 votes which is lesser than that of the BJP.
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