On 30th January, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s Manoj Sonkar became Mayor of Chandigarh after defeating Congress-AAP candidate Kuldeep Tita. He secured 16 out of 35 votes while Tita secured only 12. Eight votes were declared invalid.
Following the results, protests broke out against presiding authority Anil Masih. Marshals were called into the house to control the situation. BJP’s Rajinder Kumar was elected as Deputy Mayor. The voting took place at the Municipal Corporation Building in Chandigarh.
#WATCH | BJP wins Chandigarh mayoral elections with 16 votes to its mayor candidate Manoj Sonkar. The Congress & AAP mayor candidate Kuldeep Singh got 12 votes. 8 votes were declared invalid. pic.twitter.com/vjQYcObylT
— ANI (@ANI) January 30, 2024
This was the first time the opposition’s I.N.D.I. Alliance members fought any election against the BJP. Also, it is the first time AAP and Congress allied to defeat BJP in any election. It is unclear how deep the impact would be on the alliance. Notably, AAP has already announced it will fight Lok Sabha elections alone in Punjab which was a major jolt for the I.N.D.I. Alliance for the general elections.
The polling process took place in the presence of Chandigarh Municipal Corporation Deputy Commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh. The voting was scheduled for 10 AM. However, it began almost an hour later as the deputy commissioner and BJP councillors were late. Ex-officio member of the house and BJP MP Kirron Kher was also present in the house. She was the first to cast a vote in the election.
It took an hour to complete the voting process. Though the AAP-Congress alliance had 20 votes and the BJP had 15 votes excluding one from the ex-officio member Kher, the alliance failed as eight votes were declared invalid.
This was the first time reporters were not allowed in the press gallery to cover the elections. They watch the process on a screen installed in the conference room.
Initially, the elections were supposed to take place on 18th January. However, they were postponed to 6th February after Masih got sick. However, the opposition councillors of AAP and Congress approached Punjab and Haryana High Court over the new date. The court directed that the elections be held on 30th January.
