E-Paper
Arvind Kejriwal draws Donald Trump analogy after BJP's ‘rigged’ Chandigarh win
The BJP's Manoj Sonkar is the new Chandigarh mayor after winning 16 votes, while Kuldeep Kumar Tital, the joint AAP-Congress nominee, bagged 12 votes.
Drawing an analogy with Donald Trump's claims that the 2020 United States presidential elections were ‘rigged’ – he lost as the incumbent to Joe Biden – Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) too, would do the same in India if it lost power in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor made the remark hours after the BJP defeated the AAP-Congress combine in the Chandigarh mayoral election, despite the latter two together having 20 seats in a 35-member house. The two parties accused the saffron party of resorting to ‘malpractice’ to win.
Also Read | Rahul Gandhi on Chandigarh mayor polls row: ‘Beyond imagination what BJP will do to…’
“The BJP will stick to power even if martial law needs to be imposed. Today shows what extent they can go to win an election,” Kejriwal said in a press conference.
The AAP chief continued: “If they can fall to these depths for a location as small as Chandigarh, what must they be doing on the larger level? The cameras caught the story behind a pre-planned conspiracy to accomplish what happened today in Chandigarh.”
In the Tuesday polls, the BJP's Manoj Sonkar received 16 votes, while Kuldeep Tita, who represented the AAP-Congress alliance, bagged 12 votes; the remaining eight votes were declared ‘invalid’ by presiding officer Anil Masih, a BJP member. The Aam Aadmi Party has moved the Punjab and Haryana high court, where hearing will taking place on Wednesday.
Also Read | Chandigarh mayoral polls: Presiding officer reacts to AAP's 'defaced ballot papers' charge
The voting was originally scheduled for January 18, but was deferred as Masih, the presiding officer, fell ‘sick’ on the day. Later, January 30 was fixed as the rescheduled date after the high court's rap.
A total of 36 people vote in the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation election: 35 members, and the Union territory's (UT) representative in the Lok Sabha, in this case, the BJP's Kirron Kher.
