BJP wins Chandigarh mayoral polls, first setback for INDIA alliance

Sandeep Rana

Chandigarh, January 30

BJP candidate Manoj Sonkar on Tuesday defeated AAP’s Kuldeep Dhalor Tita, who was fielded as part of an alliance with the Congress, to win the post of mayor in the Chandigarh mayoral polls.

Sonkar polled 16 votes while Kumar secured 12. Eight votes were declared invalid.

The victory came after a high drama was witnessed at the Chandigarh municipal corporation House as the opposition accused the presiding officer, Anil Masih, of tampering with the polled votes.

Councillors of INDIA bloc parties AAP and Congress protested as soon as the results were announced. From Delhi, AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal accused the BJP of “cheating”.

Later, in the other rounds of the elections, BJP councillor Kuljeet Singh won the post of senior deputy mayor, defeating Congress councillor Gurpreet Singh Gabi.

For the post of deputy mayor, BJP councillor Rajinder Sharma defeated Congress councillor Nirmala Devi.

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 proceedings began at 10:40 am after deputy commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh arrived at the MC office.

Chandigarh MP Kirron Kher, who has voting rights as an ex-officio member of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, was the first to cast vote. She voted around 11:15 am at the building of the civic body.

The elections for the posts of Mayor, Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor were earlier scheduled to be held on January 18, but were postponed at the eleventh hour in a dramatic manner, owing to ill health of presiding officer Anil Masih.

In a post on ‘X’, Kejriwal expressed “serious concern” over the “cheating” carried out in broad daylight.

“If these people can stoop to this level in a mayoral poll, they can go to any extent in the national elections,” the Delhi chief minister said in an apparent reference to the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. “This is very worrying,” he said.

Meanwhile, BJP national president JP Nadda congratulated the saffron party’s Chandigarh unit for emerging victorious and took a dig at the INDIA alliance.

“Congratulations to @BJP4Chandigarh Unit for winning the Mayor election. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi Ji, UTs have witnessed record development. That the INDI Alliance fought their first electoral battle and still lost to BJP shows that neither their arithmetic is working nor their chemistry”, Nadda posted on X. — with PTI