BJP bags senior deputy mayor post in Chandigarh; defeats INDIA bloc candidate
Mar 04, 2024
Chandigarh (Punjab) [India], March 4 : Bharatiya Janata Party's Kuljeet Singh Sandhu on Monday won the elections for Senior Deputy Mayor of Chandigarh, securing 19 votes.
Voting for the post of Deputy Mayor and Senior Deputy Mayor of Chandigarh began on Sunday amid tight security arrangements.
The BJP got 19 votes, while the INDIA bloc (Congress + AAP) got 16. One vote was declared invalid.
In the 35 member Chandigarh Municipality the BJP led bloc had 14 seats but their strength was boosted on Februrary 19 when three Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillors joined the BJP. The three Aam Aadmi Party Chandigarh councillors who joined BJP were Punam Devi, Neha Musawat, and Gurcharan Kala in the presence of party National General Secretary Vinod Tawde, in Delhi. The BJP also has support of sole Akali Dal councillor.
With the revised strength in the house the BJP secured 19 votes for its candidate while the Congress-AAP alliance got 16 votes of its strength of 17 (one vote was invalid).
BJP candidate Kuljeet Singh Sandhu defeated INDIA bloc candidate Gurpreet Singh Gabi.
Earlier, the Supreme Court declared Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor Kuldeep Kumar as the winner of the Chandigarh mayoral polls.
This comes after the order of the apex court on the Mayoral polls found that the Returning Officer had deliberately defaced eight ballots that were cast in favour of Kuldeep Kumar to make them invalid.
A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra quashed the decision by Returning Officer Anil Masih, who declared BJP candidate Manoj Kumar Sonkar as Chandigarh Mayor on January 30.
The apex court physically examined the ballot papers and found that they were not defaced. It directed that Kuldeep Kumar be declared as mayor with 20 votes (12 votes which he received and 8 which were for him and were defaced by Masih).
Supreme Court further directed the Registrar Judicial to issue notice to Anil Masih for perjury proceedings under Section 340 CrPC for making a false statement before the court that the mark was made on eight ballots as they were defaced. The bench slammed Masih saying he had "unlawfully altered the course of the mayoral election".
