Democracy at peril if BJP voted to power again: Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann

Tribune News Service

Sanjeev Singh Bariana

Chandigarh, January 30

“If the BJP wins the coming General Election, it will be the last day of democracy,” said Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, addressing a press conference here today.

He was speaking on the alleged vote tampering during the election to the posts of mayor, senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation today.

Has stooped low

If a party can stoop so low for just 36 votes in the MC, just imagine the length of wrong the party will go to for grabbing more than 90 crore votes at the national level. Bhagwant Mann, Chief Minister

Cause for concern

The BJP is hell bent on murdering democracy. Its leaders are comfortable with using muscle and money power. Today’s incident is a cause for concern for every citizen. Do we want a dictatorship? Amrinder Raja Warring, PPCC Chief

BJP exposed

Whatever happened in the Chandigarh mayoral poll has exposed the BJP. The video of presiding officer marking votes as invalid shows that the BJP is desperate to stay in power. Sukhjinder Randhawa, former Deputy CM

“If a party can stoop so low for just 36 votes in the MC, just imagine the length of wrong the party will go for grabbing more than 90 crore votes at the national level,” he said.

He showed a video of presiding officer of the Chandigarh MC poll Anil Masih, allegedly putting a mark with his pen to certain ballot papers, which supposedly belonged to councillors of the Congress-AAP alliance. This rendered the ballot papers invalid.

“Masih is a former general secretary of the Minority Cell of the BJP. How come he was made the presiding officer in first place? He came more than 40 minutes late. Then there were no polling agent of any political party allowed inside the counting centre. Is it fair? We have approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The proof is available on camera. Let the court see the truth”, he said.

“We also demand an FIR against the officers involved in the unlawful exercise. I am not worried about the results of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation alone, I see clouds of bigger danger on our democracy. These indicated that there would be very bleak chances of holding free and fair poll to the Lok Sabha this year,” he said.

Replying to a question on the AAP having an alliance for the Chandigarh mayoral poll and not having any pact in Punjab, the CM said, “it is now not a question of alliance with any party. It is a question of survival of the democracy. We need one voice to show the ugly reality. I know very clearly that if the BJP wins the next elections, it will be the last day of our democracy,” he said.

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