The eagerly watched BJP’s Manoj Sonkar defeated INDIA bloc’s Kuldeep Dhalor by four votes to win the contentious Chandigarh mayor elections amid high drama at the municipal corporation on Tuesday afternoon.
Sonkar, 39, who is the ward 7 councillor, got 16 votes, while Dhalor of the AAP-Congress alliance bagged 12 votes, while eight of the total 36 votes were declared invalid.
Sonkar, who runs a liquor business, has studied up to Class 7.
Angry INDIA bloc councillors accused presiding officer Anil Masih of marking polled votes with ticks while counting was on and walked out of the municipal corporation House as voting for the senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor began shortly afterwards.
BJP nominees Kuljit Sandhu and Rajinder Sharma were declared elected to the posts of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor, respectively.
Masih was not available for comment.
Also read: Kejriwal claims ‘cheating in broad daylight’ as BJP wins Chandigarh mayoral elections
The polls, being held following the directions of the Punjab and Haryana high court, assume significance with opposition INDIA bloc members, the Congress and the AAP, joining hands to contest the elections against the BJP, which has held the mayor’s post for the past eight years. As part of the alliance, the AAP contested for the mayor’s post, while the Congress fielded candidates for senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor.
{{/usCountry}}The polls, being held following the directions of the Punjab and Haryana high court, assume significance with opposition INDIA bloc members, the Congress and the AAP, joining hands to contest the elections against the BJP, which has held the mayor’s post for the past eight years. As part of the alliance, the AAP contested for the mayor’s post, while the Congress fielded candidates for senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor.
{{/usCountry}}BJP president JP Nadda took to social media to congratulate the Chandigarh unit of the party on the win. “Congratulations to @BJP4Chandigarh unit for winning the mayor election. Under the leadership of Prime Minister @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 arithmetic is working nor their chemistry,” Nadda posted.
Former Chandigarh MP and Congress leader Pawan Kumar Bansal said: “The worst fears of unabashed tampering by the BJP’s presiding officer, in a premeditated and planned intrigue to murder democracy, have come true in the Chandigarh mayoral elections. The agent of the Congress-AAP candidate was not allowed to see the ballot papers. The presiding officer announced rejection of eight votes, declared the BJP candidate winner and went away. BJP members rushed to the table and tore off the ballot papers.”
After the election, BJP leader Sanjay Tandon said: “The polls were held according to high court orders. Their own (AAP-Congress) councillors did not vote as it was an unholy alliance.”
700 police personnel deployed
The much-awaited elections started after Masih arrived around 10.40am. Chandigarh BJP MP Kirron Kher, who has voting rights as an ex-officio member of the municipal corporation, was the first to cast the vote. She voted at 11.15am at the building of the civic body.
Chandigarh deputy commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh, who is the prescribed authority for the elections, was present during the poll process, which was videographed.
Before the start of polling, the municipal corporation’s joint commissioner gave a demonstration regarding the process and guidelines to be followed.
Tight security arrangements were made for the mayoral polls. Around 700 police personnel, along with those from paramilitary forces, were deployed for maintaining law and order at the municipal corporation building, officials said.
The BJP has 14 councillors in the 35-member Chandigarh MC, the AAP has 13 councillors and the Congress seven. The Shiromani Akali Dal has one councillor.
The BJP has fielded Manoj Sonkar while the AAP has nominated Kumar for the post of mayor.
For the post of senior deputy mayor, the BJP’s Kuljeet Sandhu contested against Gurpreet Singh Gabi of the Congress, while Rajinder Sharma of the BJP took on Congress candidate Nirmala Devi for the post of deputy mayor.
Controversial decision to postpone polls
The elections were originally scheduled for January 18 but were deferred to February 6 by the Chandigarh administration after the presiding officer, Masih, fell ill. The administration had at that time also said the polls were postponed after assessing the law-and-order situation.
The administration’s order deferring the polls had triggered protests by the Congress and the AAP councillors.
Kuldeep Dhalor, the AAP’s candidate for the post of mayor, had challenged the Chandigarh deputy commissioner’s order to defer the elections in the high court.
In its January 24 order, the high court directed the Chandigarh administration to hold the mayoral polls at 10am on January 30. It also quashed the administration’s January 18 order postponing the elections while holding it “unreasonable, unjustified and arbitrary”.
The high court had also directed that the councillors who come to cast their votes shall not be accompanied by any supporters or security personnel belonging to any other state.
The Chandigarh Police will ensure security to the councillors, the court had said.
Third mayor for this MC term
Elections to the three posts are held every year during the House’s five-year term. The Congress had abstained from voting in 2022 and 2023, leading to the BJP’s victory in the polls.
The election of the mayor is done through secret ballots.
For this year’s elections -- the third for this term -- the mayor’s seat has been reserved for the Scheduled Caste category.
NUMBER GAME IN CHANDIGARH MAYOR ELECTION
Total votes: 36 (35 elected councillors and one vote of sitting MP)
BEFORE ELECTION
BJP: 15 (14 councillors plus one vote of party MP Kirron Kher)
AAP: 13
Congress: 7
SAD: 1
AFTER ELECTION
BJP: 16
INDIA bloc (Cong-AAP): 12
Invalid: Eight
BJP candidate declared winner.