In a setback for the Aam Aadmi Party and Congress alliance within the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, three AAP councillors joined the BJP yesterday forward of the essential listening to within the Supreme Court right this moment. Not solely this, Chandigarh Mayor Manoj Sonkar additionally resigned from the submit paving the way in which for the contemporary mayoral polls. The AAP and Congress had approached the apex courtroom difficult the presiding officer’s resolution to declare Sonkar because the successful candidate after 8 opposition ballots have been rejected. The three councillors are Gurcharanjit Singh Kala, Neha and Poonum Devi. All the three leaders accused AAP of creating false guarantees and mentioned that they joined the saffron occasion as they’re impressed by the works of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
BJP-SAD vs AAP-Congress
In the home of 35 members, the BJP has a complete of 15 votes within the Municipal Corporation House together with 14 councillors and ex officio members i.e. an MP – Kiron Kher. The AAP has 13 councillors, whereas the Congress has seven. The Shiromani Akali Dal has one councillor within the House. The AAP and Congress collectively had 20 votes however because the 8 votes have been declared invalid through the January 30 polls, the BJP’s mayoral candidate Sonkar emerged as winner. AAP-Congress alleged foul play by the presiding officer and moved to the SC after it received no aid from the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
Now, with the three AAP councillors leaping ship, the BJP is having 18 votes whereas the AAP-Congress alliance could have 18 votes with the assistance of Shiromani Akali Dal.
Hearing In Supreme Court Today
The Supreme Court is scheduled to listen to the plea filed by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which alleged that the BJP tampered with the ballots through the January 30 Chandigarh mayoral ballot. In its earlier listening to, the Supreme Court took a stringent view of the alleged malpractice by presiding officer Anil Masih saying that the returning officer must be prosecuted for tampering with the ballots.
Previous Mayoral Polls
In January 2023 mayoral polls, a complete of 29 votes have been solid, resulting in Anup Gupta from the BJP securing victory within the mayoral election by defeating Jasbir Singh Laddi from the Aam Aadmi Party with a slim margin of 1 vote. Gupta garnered 15 votes, whereas Singh managed to safe 14. Notably, the Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal shunned taking part within the voting course of. Similarly, within the yr 2022, the BJP candidate emerged victorious as soon as once more by a slim margin of 1 vote, as one vote was invalidated attributable to numerous causes.
