Ahead of Supreme court hearing, Chandigarh mayor Manoj Sonkar resigns; 3 AAP councillors join BJP

Sandeep Rana

Chandigarh, February 18

A day before the Supreme Court hearing, Chandigarh Mayor Manoj Sonkar resigned on Sunday setting a stage for fresh mayoral election.

He submitted his resignation to the MC commissioner.

This follows three AAP councillors joining the BJP giving the ruling party majority in the MC House. Councillors Gurcharanjit Singh Kala, Neha and Poonum joined the party.

The ruling party will have a majority against the INDIA bloc and will benefit in case of fresh mayoral polls.

The Congress seems to be in no mood to have an alliance with AAP in the mayoral polls after the latter announced that it would contest the Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat on its own.

BJP’s Manoj Sonkar had defeated AAP’s Kuldeep Dhalor Tita, who was fielded under an alliance with the Congress, to win the post of Mayor. The Opposition accused the presiding officer Anil Masih of tampering with the votes polled.