Despite the alliance between AAP and Congress, Arvind Kejriwal alleges ‘cheating in broad daylight’ as the BJP emerges victorious in the Chandigarh mayoral elections.
Arvind Kejriwal, the leader of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), expressed his concern over the victory of BJP candidate Manoj Sonkar in the Chandigarh mayoral elections, attributing it to “cheating in broad daylight”. Kejriwal emphasized that if the BJP could resort to such tactics in a mayoral election, they could go to any extent to win the Lok Sabha elections. He stated, “The manner in which cheating has been done in broad daylight in the Chandigarh Mayor elections is extremely worrying. If these individuals can stoop so low in a mayor’s election, then they can go to any extent in the country’s elections. This is very concerning.” Kejriwal conveyed this message in Hindi on X. In the mayoral elections, BJP’s Manoj Sonkar emerged victorious over AAP’s Kuldeep Kumar, despite the AAP-Congress alliance having more votes in the 35-member assembly than the BJP.
The mayoral elections in Chandigarh were initially planned for January 18. Nevertheless, they were indefinitely delayed due to the illness of the presiding officer. As per the directive of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the election has been mandated to take place on January 30.
What happened in Chandigarh mayoral elections?
Manoj Sonkar received a total of 16 votes, whereas Kumar managed to secure 12 votes. It is worth noting that eight votes were deemed invalid.
Following the announcement of the results, the councillors representing the AAP and Congress parties, which are part of the INDIA bloc, immediately initiated a protest.
Now that the new mayor has been elected, they will proceed to conduct elections for the positions of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor. The Congress party has put forward its candidates for these two positions.
Out of the 35 members in the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, the BJP holds 14 councillors, while the AAP has 13 councillors and the Congress has seven. Additionally, the Shiromani Akali Dal is represented by one councillor.