 "Cheating in broad daylight: Kejriwal reacts to BJP's victory in Chandigarh")
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday attributed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Manoj Sonkar's victory in the Chandigarh mayoral elections to "cheating in broad daylight".
Kejriwal further said if the BJP could "stoop so low" in mayoral elections, it could go to any extent to win the Lok Sabha elections.
"The manner in which cheating has been done in broad daylight in the Chandigarh Mayor elections, is extremely worrying. If these people can stoop so low in a mayor's election, then they can go to any extent in the country's elections. This is very worrying," Kejriwal wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
BJP's Manoj Sonkar defeated AAP's Kuldeep Kumar in the mayoral elections in Chandigarh on Tuesday.
The AAP had contested the election in alliance with the Congress. Together, the AAP-Congress alliance had more votes in the 35-strong assembly than the BJP.
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The Chandigarh mayoral elections were originally scheduled for January 18. However, they were indefinitely postponed due to the illness of the presiding officer.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court then directed that the election be held on January 30.
Chandigarh mayor election
Manoj Sonkar polled 16 votes, while Kumar secured 12. Eight votes were declared invalid.
Meanwhile, the councillors of INDIA bloc parties AAP and Congress launched a protest as soon as the results were declared.
Now, the newly elected mayor will hold the elections for the posts of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor. The Congress has fielded its candidates for these two posts.
The BJP has 14 councillors in the 35-member Chandigarh Municipal Corporation. The AAP has 13 councillors, whereas the Congress has seven. The Shiromani Akali Dal has only one councillor.