In the Chandigarh mayoral election, Manoj Sonkar of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged victorious on Tuesday, securing 16 votes against the 12 garnered by Congress-AAP candidate Kuldeep Tita. However, the declaration was not without controversy, as eight votes were deemed invalid, leading to accusations of rigging by opposition leaders.
While the voting was initially scheduled to begin at 10 a.m., it faced a nearly one-hour delay as the Deputy Commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh and some BJP councillors arrived late. The ex-officio member of the House, MP Kirron Kher, cast the first vote. In total, 36 votes were polled during the hour-long process, with the AAP and Congress jointly holding 20 votes and the BJP securing 15 votes, plus one from Kher.
As Sonkar assumed the mayor’s seat, chaos ensued, with protests erupting against the presiding authority, Anil Masih. Marshals were called in to restore order, highlighting the tense atmosphere surrounding the election.
The mayor-elect is now tasked with overseeing the elections for the senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor positions. This electoral process is seen as a significant test for the opposition’s India alliance against the BJP, marking the first alliance between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Congress.
Protest around the election
Protesting the unfolding events, Congress leader Pawan Bansal alleged a premeditated rejection of eight ballot papers. He claimed that Congress and AAP agents were denied access to the ballot papers, suggesting a biassed approach by the presiding officer.
“We were watching the live feed. If you notice, the presiding officer immediately vacated the chair, and the BJP’s candidate was standing beside him immediately. The BJP members rushed in, took, and tore the ballot papers before anyone could even go there and see,” Bansal asserted.
Congress president H.S. Lucky echoed these sentiments, accusing the BJP of intentionally securing a presiding officer aligned with their interests and alleging manipulation of the election process.
Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party leader, Arvind Kejriwal, called the result “dishonest” and “very 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.” Demanding the arrest of the presiding officer, AAP’s Punjab in-charge and MP Raghav Chadha compared what had happened to “treason.”
In response, Bansal said: “Congress and AAP agents were not given access to the ballot papers. The presiding officer conducted a charade of an election. We were seeing it live… If you notice, the presiding officer immediately vacated the chair after the voting, and the BJP candidate was there, standing beside him. BJP members rushed in, took away the ballot papers, and tore them before anyone could even go in and see.”
In an unusual move, media personnel were denied entry to the press gallery, only being able to watch the proceedings on a screen without audio output.
The mayoral election, initially slated for January 18, was postponed to February 6 due to the presiding officer’s illness. After opposition councillors moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the court directed that the polls be held on January 30, setting the stage for the contentious events that unfolded.
Mayor polls have been in the news for the past few years
2022 saw an opposite scene where the AAP stunned the BJP by winning 14 seats in the Chandigarh Corporation polls compared to 12 for the BJP after it won the Assembly elections in Punjab. But later, a councillor from the Congress had moved to the BJP, taking its toll to 13, putting it on a par with the AAP given that the BJP had the Chandigarh MP’s vote too. When the mayor polls came around, the BJP won after one vote was declared invalid.
In 2023, the Congress refused to vote, with the BJP anyway ahead of the AAP, with Congress councillor Gurcharan Singh having joined the BJP and AAP councillor Taruna having moved to the Congress.
