Chandigarh: On the eve of the Supreme Court’s imminent hearing on Chandigarh’s mayoral elections, the BJP’s Manoj Sonkar resigned from his mayor role today. The mayoral election matter is scheduled to be heard by the Supreme Court on February 19th. Moreover, Anil Masih, who carried out his duties as the presiding officer during these elections, has been summoned to make a personal appearance in court. Notably, the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party had accused Masih of defacing ballot papers and later declaring them invalid during the Chandigarh Mayoral Elections, as per a report by Hindustan Times.
Chandigarh Mayral Elections 2023: What Happened?
Councillors of the 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.’. The newly elected mayor will hold the elections for the posts of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor.
As part of the alliance, the AAP was contesting for the mayor’s post while the Congress 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.
The BJP has 14 councillors in the 35-member Chandigarh Municipal Corporation. The AAP has 13 councillors and the Congress seven. The Shiromani Akali Dal has one councillor.
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. Tight security arrangements are in place for the mayoral polls.
Around 700 police personnel, along with those from paramilitary forces, have been deployed for maintain law and order during the election at the municipal corporation building, officials said.
The polls were originally scheduled for January 18 but were deferred to February 6 by the Chandigarh administration after the presiding officer fell ill. The administration had at that time also said the polls were postponed after assessing the law-and-order situation. The administration’s order deferring the polls had triggered protests by Congress and AAP councillors.
Kuldeep Kumar had challenged the Chandigarh deputy commissioner’s order to defer the elections in the high court.
In its January 24 order, the high court directed the Chandigarh administration to hold the mayoral polls at 10 am on January 30. It also quashed the administration’s January 18 order postponing the elections while holding it “unreasonable, unjustified and arbitrary.”. The high court had also directed that the councillors who come to cast their votes shall not be accompanied by any supporters or security personnel belonging to any other state.
The Chandigarh Police will ensure security for the councillors, the court said. The police had also been asked to ensure that no ruckus or untoward incident takes place on or around the civic body premises during or after the election process.
Elections to the three posts are held every year during the House’s five-year term. The Congress had abstained from voting in 2022 and 2023, leading to the BJP’s victory in the polls. The election of the mayor is done through secret ballots.
AAP, Congress Mutually Decided To Go Solo In Punjab: Kejriwal
Rebuffing rumours about all being well in opposition bloc INDIA, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Sunday that it is a “mutual decision” of the AAP and Congress to go solo in Punjab for the Lok Sabha elections, and there are no differences between them.
Talking to reporters about AAP’s decision to go it alone in Punjab, Kejriwal, who met Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi for lunch, said that the decision was mutual and there is no hostility over this.
The Chief Minister said that the AAP is holding seat-sharing talks with the Congress in Delhi as not going for it will make things easy for the BJP. Since a decade, the BJP has been winning all seven parliamentary seats in the national capital.
Earlier, when Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann announced AAP’s decision to contest all 13 seats in the state, Punjab Congress leader Pratap Singh Bajwa said that is exactly what the grand old party wants.
Recently, in an interview with a private TV channel, Bajwa said: “We cannot go with AAP in Punjab, as AAP is the ruling party and Congress is in opposition. Reacting to the development, the BJP termed the opposition alliance “opportunist.”.
(With inputs from agencies)