The News Freedom
Chandigarh, January 30
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Manoj Sonkar, on Tuesday emerged victorious in a nail-biting Chandigarh Mayoral election, edging past the combined challenge of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Congress. The highly anticipated poll, the first major face-off between the newly formed Opposition alliance and the NDA after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s shift, witnessed Sonkar securing 16 votes against AAP candidate Kuldeep Kumar’s 12. However, the contest wasn’t without drama, as eight ballots were declared invalid, leading to protests from AAP and Congress councillors.
Sonkar’s victory marks a significant win for the BJP, which capitalized on its numerical advantage in the Municipal Corporation House. With 14 councillors compared to AAP’s 13 and Congress’ 7, the BJP’s strategic maneuvering proved decisive.
The eight invalid votes add a layer of intrigue to the result, with both AAP and Congress questioning the validity of the process. Sonkar’s victory now sets the stage for his tenure as Chandigarh’s new mayor.
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 (Modi Ka Parivar) (@JPNadda) January 30, 2024
बेईमानी और गिरने की बात पर भला आपसे ज्यादा ज्ञान किसे है? राजनीति में न जाने क्या क्या कसमें, वादे खा कर और आरोप लगाकर आए थे और आज इस स्तर पर गिरे की उनकी ही गोद में जा बैठे।
आपको देश के लोकतंत्र और जांच एजेंसियों पर कितना यकीन है वह दुनिया देख रही है। बेहतर होगा लोकतांत्रिक… https://t.co/lsXierAS5Z
— BJP Delhi (@BJP4Delhi) January 30, 2024
Meanwhile, AAP councillor Kuldeep Kumar has filed a petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, urging the nullification of the election process, citing it as an outcome tainted by complete fraud and forgery. Reacting to the BJP’s victory in Mayoral elections in Chandigarh, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann said that the Presiding officer must be booked under sedition for deceiving the constitution of the country. He said that the presiding officer had deliberately counted the votes in the absence of polling agents just to ensure the win of the BJP candidate.