The Bharatiya Janata Party candidate has won the Chandigarh Mayor election, which is being considered as a litmus test for the INDIA alliance.
Despite the numbers game being favorable, the game of Aam Aadmi Party and Congress got spoiled and both the parties could not defeat BJP even together.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has won the Chandigarh Mayor election held amid much tussle. BJP was behind Congress and Aam Aadmi Party in terms of numerical strength.
The alliance of 20 councilors lost in the mayor election and Manoj Sonkar won the election with 16 votes and became the next mayor of Chandigarh city. After the announcement of Chandigarh Mayor election results, councilors of Aam Aadmi Party and Congress started creating ruckus.
The joint candidate of Congress and Aam Aadmi Party had to face defeat even though the vote arithmetic was in favor.
Chandigarh Mayor Elections: Number Game
BJP has 14 councilors in Chandigarh Municipal Corporation. BJP is the largest party in terms of numerical strength. After BJP, Aam Aadmi Party is the second largest party in Chandigarh Municipal Corporation with 13 councilors.
There are seven councilors from Congress and one councilor from Shiromani Akali Dal. Local MPs also have the right to vote in the Chandigarh Mayor elections.
BJP’s Kirron Kher is MP from Chandigarh is also included, the strength of BJP reaches 15, whereas the strength of Aam Aadmi Party and Congress, which have fielded a common candidate, is 20 councillors.
There are a total of 35 councilors in Chandigarh Municipal Corporation and one MP has the vote. To ensure victory in the mayor election which had a total of 36 votes, it was necessary to reach the figure of 19 votes.
BJP’s numerical strength including its own councilors and MPs was reaching only 15 votes. If the vote of the sole councilor of Shiromani Akali Dal is also added, then BJP’s vote was reaching only 16.
On the other hand, the number of votes was reaching 20 including 13 votes of Aam Aadmi Party and 7 votes of Congress. When both the parties joined hands and fielded a common candidate, the victory of the alliance in the mayor elections was considered certain. But when the results came, BJP had hoisted the flag of victory.
Tactics Behind Chandigarh Mayor Election
All 35 councilors and MP Kirron Kher cast their votes to elect the mayor. After voting the counting of votes started. 16 votes were cast in favor of the BJP candidate. This much was achieved by adding the vote of the sole councilor of Shiromani Akali Dal. At the same time, 20 votes were cast in favor of the common candidate of Congress and Aam Aadmi Party.
Now what happened is that out of 20 votes cast in favor of the Congress-AAP candidate, eight were rejected. The votes of Aam Aadmi Party and Congress became minus due to rejection of 13 plus 7 i.e. 20 to 8 votes.
After this, only 12 valid votes were left for the common candidate of both the parties. There were 16 votes in favor of BJP candidate Manoj Sonkar as against 12 valid votes for Congress and Aam Aadmi Party candidates. After counting of votes, BJP candidate was declared victorious.
AAP calls it Fraud by BJP
Aam Aadmi Party has announced to go to court alleging rigging in Chandigarh Mayor elections. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has posted on social media platform X. He said that if these people can stoop so low in a mayor’s election, then they can go to any extent in the country’s elections. At the same time, Chandigarh Municipal Corporation councilor Premlata announced to go to the High Court.
Chadha Slams BJP In PC
Raghav Chadha Senior AAP Leader Rajya Sabha MP said over this allegations that “What BJP did today in Chandigarh Mayor elections is treason.
- First of all BJP appointed its official leader as the presiding officer of the election.
- On election day, January 18, the presiding officer fell ill and was admitted to the hospital and the elections were postponed indefinitely.
- We had to go to the court and get a new date for the elections, meanwhile BJP tried to buy the councilors of AAP-INC (Operation Lotus).
INDI Alliance Leaders on Chandigarh Mayor Election
Akhilesh Yadav said “ The manner in which the BJP has misused its power and rigged the elections by putting pressure on the officials, despite not having the majority in the Chandigarh Mayor elections, not only the Election Commission should immediately take cognizance of it, but the Honorable Supreme Court, as the guardian of the Constitution, should immediately take cognizance of the same.”
He further said “The court should also take action and immediately cancel these results, conduct elections under its supervision and declare fair results and take punitive action against those guilty of this democratic crime.”
What is the BJP’s response on allegations?
Union Minister Piyush Goel said on winning Chandigarh Mayor Election, “The lies of INDIA Alliance got defeated, development won once again under the leadership of Modi ji.
Infinite congratulations and best wishes to @BJP4Chandigarh for winning the Chandigarh Mayor elections.
Experiencing positive changes in the last few years under the leadership of Prime Minister @NarendraModi, UTs are making an important contribution in making the country a corruption-free developed India.”
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