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BJP's Manoj Sonkar elected new mayor of Chandigarh, defeats AAP-Cong candidate
While Manoj Sonkar bagged 16 votes out of 35-member Chandigarh municipal corporation, AAP-Congress got 12 votes. Another eight votes were declared invalid.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) councillor Manoj Sonkar was elected as the new mayor of Chandigarh on Tuesday, causing a major setback for the Opposition INDIA bloc. Sonkar defeated Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) mayoral candidate Kuldeep Kumar. While Sonkar bagged 16 votes out of the 35-member Chandigarh municipal corporation, the alliance of AAP and Congress got 12 votes. Another eight votes were declared invalid.
The polls, originally scheduled for January 18, were earlier deferred moments before councillors were about to cast their votes owing to the poor health of presiding officer Anil Masih. This also triggered massive protests by the opposition members who accused the BJP of orchestrating the turn of events.
The voting and counting of votes were held on Tuesday after the directions of the Punjab and Haryana high court. They assume significance as opposition INDIA bloc members Congress and AAP join hands to contest the elections. In a strategic move, AAP contested for the mayor's post while Congress fielded candidates for senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor posts.
Notably, the senior deputy mayor post is seeing a fight between BJP's Kuljeet Sandhu and Congress' Gurpreet Singh Gabi. Meanwhile, for the deputy mayor position, there is a contest between BJP's Rajinder Sharma and Congress' Nirmala Devi.
Meanwhile, high drama followed after the declaration of the new Mayor as the opposition leaders accused president officer Anil Masih of “making tick marks” on polled votes while counting. Reacting to this, BJP's Sanjay Tandon said, “The polls were held as per high court's order. Their (Congress and AAP) own councillors did not vote as it was an ‘unholy’ alliance.”
Who is Manoj Sonkar?
Manoj Sonkar is a BJP councillor in Chandigarh. He was the only mayoral candidate from the BJP belonging to the Schedule Caste (SC). The 39-year-old mayor has completed his education till Class 7. Reportedly, he runs a liquor business.
