AAP, Congress Approach Court After Shock Defeat In Chandigarh Mayor Polls

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Congress on Tuesday filed a petition in the Punjab-Haryana High Court highlighting concerns over the integrity of the recently conducted mayoral elections in Chandigarh. The court will hear the matter on January 31.

Lawyer Ferry Sofat, who is advocating for the Aam Aadmi Party and Congress in the Punjab Haryana High Court, said that we have filed a petition in the High Court today regarding the mayor elections, which will be heard on Wednesday morning.

"Mentioning was done before the Court (High Court of Punjab and Haryana) today to file a writ petition. The court allowed the mentioning and fixed the matter for a hearing tomorrow, 31st January. What BJP did today to finish democracy - the whole country watched it. They tried to hijack the election. We have challenged the entire process in this writ petition. We have also submitted proper evidence...," Lawyer Sofat told ANI on Tuesday.

"The way BJP today tried to end Democracy was seen by the whole country today. We have challenged the whole process which was being telecasted on television. We have attached the valid proof," he added.

He further said that in the last hearing, the Punjab Haryana High Court had ordered that the Chandigarh Mayor elections should be conducted in a completely free and fair manner adding that "the entire voting process should be videographed.

After a high-voltage drama around the Chandigarh mayoral elections, Delhi Minister and AAP leader Saurabh Bhardwaj on Tuesday alleged "robbery" by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and said that the party's victory in Chandigarh mayoral polls was a "blatant theft."

The fresh scheduling of the elections, which AAP MP Raghav Chadha described as the first direct electoral contest between the BJP and the Opposition bloc--INDIA--happened on the order of the Punjab-Haryana High Court.

The Bharatiya Janta Party's (BJP) Manoj Sonkar won the Chandigarh mayoral elections on Tuesday, the first election battle against the INDIA bloc by defeating the Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) Kuldeep Kumar.

Meanwhile, BJP secured 16 votes for its mayor candidate Manoj Sonkar and Kuldeep Singh, the joint candidate of Congress and AAP was able to manage 12 votes. 8 votes were declared invalid.

After BJP's Manoj won the Chandigarh mayor election, a ruckus broke out in the House. Congress and AAP councillors accused the BJP of cheating and not following the due electoral process.

Reacting to the allegations of AAP, newly-elected Chandigarh Mayor Manoj Sonkar said that levelling allegations is the AAP-Congress job.
"Wherever they don't have their way, they level allegations...Everything is on camera. But when they couldn't digest their defeat, they created this atmosphere and started blaming us," Sonkar said.

He further alleged that AAP-Congress leaders started tearing ballot papers and jostling people around after the name of the Mayor was announced.

"They started tearing ballot papers and jostling people around after the name of the Mayor was announced...When they can't run a small city, how can they run a state?...Let them do press conference, we are not wrong. We have won the election," he added.

The polls were conducted today after the presiding officer fell ill on the initial date, January 8 of holding the polls.

The fresh scheduling of the elections, which AAP MP Raghav Chadha described as the first direct electoral contest between the BJP and the Opposition bloc--INDIA--happened on the order of the Punjab-Haryana High Court.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on January 24, 2024, announced the decision to hold the Chandigarh Mayoral Elections on January 30 and also vested the responsibility for security in the Chandigarh Police.

Advocate General Punjab, Gurminder Singh, said earlier, "The Punjab Haryana High Court made its decision regarding the Chandigarh mayoral elections public. The court granted permission to hold the Chandigarh Mayoral polls on January 30 at 10.00 am. The Chandigarh Police has been entrusted with full responsibility for security."

After the mayoral polls were rescheduled on account of the sickness of the presiding officer, Congress and AAP leaders alleged that the BJP deliberately delayed the polls as it sensed defeat.

In what is the first instance of the Congress and AAP coming together for an electoral contest since the formation of the Opposition bloc--INDIA, the two parties threw their combined weight behind the joint Opposition candidate.

As part of the deal between the two parties, the AAP fielded a candidate for the mayoral post while the Congress put up nominees for the posts of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)