BJP candidate Manoj Sonkar won the post of mayor defeating AAP’s Kuldeep Dhalor Tita. Photo: Video grab
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
15:31 30 Jan
The mayoral polls controversy has reached the high court again and the hearing is likely to take place tomorrow.
15:24 30 Jan
Raghav Chadha and Pawan Bansal demanded that a case be registered against presiding officer Anil Masih and he be arrested.
15:23 30 Jan
AAP Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha and former Congress MP from the city Pawan Bansal said that what happened was ‘totally illegal’. The leaders said “a murder of democracy” was witnessed in the polls.
14:32 30 Jan
I along with Senior Congress leader Pawan Bansal will address a joint press conference at 2:30PM at Punjab Bhawan, Chandigarh.
— Raghav Chadha (@raghav_chadha) January 30, 2024
We will expose the FRAUD that BJP has committed today in #ChandigarhMayorElections
14:30 30 Jan
BJP councillor Rajinder Sharma won the post of deputy mayor by defeating Congress councillor Nirmala Devi.
14:14 30 Jan
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…
— Jagat Prakash Nadda (@JPNadda) January 30, 2024
14:11 30 Jan
BJP councillor Kuljeet Singh won the post of senior deputy mayor, defeating Congress councillor Gurpreet Singh Gabi.
14:06 30 Jan
AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal has accused the BJP of manipulating the outcome of the mayoral polls.
चंडीगढ़ मेयर चुनाव में दिन दहाड़े जिस तरह से बेईमानी की गई है, वो बेहद चिंताजनक है। यदि एक मेयर चुनाव में ये लोग इतना गिर सकते हैं तो देश के चुनाव में तो ये किसी भी हद तक जा सकते हैं। ये बेहद चिंताजनक है।
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) January 30, 2024
13:40 30 Jan
The AAP and Congress councillors boycotted polling for the post of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor.
Only the BJP councillors are voting for the posts.
13:08 30 Jan
BJP's Manoj Sonkar won the mayoral elections, defeating INDIA alliance (AAP-Congress) candidate Kuldeep Dhalor Tita.
BJP: 16 votes polled
INDIA alliance: 12 votes polled
Invalid votes: 8
13:03 30 Jan
High drama in MC House as opposition accuses presiding officer Anil Masih of marking a tick mark on the polled votes while counting and making his signatures.
12:20 30 Jan
32 votes have been cast so far for the post of mayor, and four more left, after which counting will start.
11:34 30 Jan
As part of the alliance, the AAP is contesting for the mayor's post while the Congress is fielding candidates for senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor.
BJP has fielded Manoj Sonkar while AAP has nominated Kuldeep Kumar for the post of mayor.
For the post of senior deputy mayor, BJP's Kuljeet Sandhu will go up against the Congress' Gurpreet Singh Gabi.
Rajinder Sharma of the BJP will take on Congress candidate Nirmala Devi for the post of deputy mayor.
11:28 30 Jan
Tight security arrangements are in place with around 700 police personnel, along with those from paramilitary forces, deployed for maintaining law and order at the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation building.
11:18 30 Jan
BJP MP Kirron Kher, ex-officio member in the municipal corporation House, casts first vote.
11:04 30 Jan
Lone Shiromani Akali Dal councillor Hardeep Singh's request for NOTA option has been rejected by the deputy commissioner as there are no provisions.
10:59 30 Jan
The proceedings started after Chandigarh deputy commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh arrived at 10.40am.
It is for the first time that the media has been asked to cover the proceedings from the conference hall.
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