Chandigarh: BJP candidate Manoj Sonkar defeated AAP's Kuldeep Kumar in the Chandigarh mayoral polls on Tuesday. While BJP candidate polled 16 votes, the AAP's nominee, who entered the fray with Congress support on behalf of INDIA bloc, secured 12 votes. But eight votes were declared invalid, which led to the AAP and Congress leaders registering their protest against the manner in which the election was conducted.
AAP national convener and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of "cheating". He posted his reaction in Hindi on X, which is roughly translated to: "The manner in which dishonesty 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."
As part of the alliance, the AAP was contesting for the mayor's post while the Congress has fielded candidates for senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor. The polls, being held following the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, assume significance with opposition INDIA bloc members Congress and AAP joining hands, even though they are yet to agree on seat-sharing in Punjab.
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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 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
">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, 2024चंडीगढ़ 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
Actually, the AAP has 13 councillors and the Congress seven in the 35-member Chandigarh Municipal Corporation. On its part, the BJP has only 14 councillors while the Shiromani Akali Dal has one councillor. The elections to the posts of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor will now be held by the newly elected mayor.
The mayoral election was held amid unprecedented security arrangements with about 700 police personnel and also paramilitary forces at the municipal corporation, sources said. The polls were postponed earlier amid protests by protests by the AAP and Congress councillors. A legal tangle ensued with the AAP contesting the postponement of the mayoral election.
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