BJP wins Chandigarh mayoral polls; AAP, Congress allege irregularities

Chandigarh: The Aam Aadmi Party and Congress alleged that the mayoral polls here on Tuesday were conducted through “unfair” means after eight votes of the INDIA bloc were declared invalid and BJP candidate Manoj Sonkar won, News18 reported.

BJP won the deputy mayoral and senior deputy mayoral polls, too, after AAP and Congress did a boycott.

When Sonkar gathered 16 votes for BJP, AAP won 13 and Congress seven. Both had agreed to contest here together. However, eight votes of the two were declared invalid, so the BJP candidate won.

After the results were declared, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal alleged that the elections in the union territory, which is also the capital of AAP ruling Punjab, were conducted in an unfair manner.

He wrote on X, “The unfair manner and dishonesty in broad daylight in the Chandigarh mayor elections is extremely worrying. If these people can stoop so low in a mayor’s election, they can go to any extent in the country’s elections. This is very worrying.

His party questioned the eight votes being declared invalid and is planning to move the court. It alleged election agents of none of the parties were present during the counting, and the request for the same was declined by presiding officer Anil Masih.

BJP, meanwhile, celebrated the victory. Party’s national president JP Nadda took it to X, saying, “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.”