After BJP’s Chandigarh unit secured victory in the Chandigarh Mayoral election held on Tuesday, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said on Wednesday that BJP will be winning all upcoming elections as well.
Khattar, while speaking to media personnel about the BJP’s victory, said, “In politics, people often put out blame on others once they face defeat. This is democracy and in democracy, someone is going to win at a particular instance and someone else may win at a different instance. For the last 10-12 years, BJP’s ideology has been constantly moving forward and whenever people or society accept an ideology and follow it, then it becomes a stable ideology. The Bharatiya Janata Party will get a majority in the upcoming elections as well, whether it be the upcoming Lok Sabha elections or the Haryana assembly elections.”
Meanwhile, after facing a defeat in the Mayor polls, members of Youth Congress staged a protest outside the Mayor’s office in Chandigarh on Wednesday.
Youth Congress workers were heard chanting the slogan ‘Bhrastachar band karo’ (Stop the corruption).
However, the police detained the protestors after a while.
Earlier in the day, a hearing was held on Wednesday in the Punjab and Haryana High Court regarding tampering with the results of the Chandigarh Mayor election.
Kuldeep Kumar, who was the mayoral candidate jointly supported by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Congress, was represented by Advocate General of Punjab Gurminder Gary, while Advocate Anil Mehta represented Chandigarh Municipal Corporation.
After hearing the entire matter, the Punjab and Haryana High Court gave 3 weeks to the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation and Chandigarh Administration to file their reply in this matter.
The next hearing on the matter will be on February 26, 2024.
Advocate Gurminder Gary, while speaking to media personnel, said, “In the writ petition which we had filed against yesterday’s (mayoral) election procedure, we had taken the grounds that tampering was done with the election procedure and the presiding officer has committed a fraud in which the ballot papers were marked and the votes were wrongly rejected.”
“Taking cognizance of the matter, the court has issued notice for February 26 to the UT administration, police authorities, the elected mayor (Manoj Sonkar) and the presiding officer, Anil Masih,” he said.
“We have attached the videography, which was done as per the directions of the court, with the record in the form of a pen drive. The court has said to take a written response from those who have been issued the notice and then the video will also be examined,” he added.
On Tuesday, high drama was witnessed in the Chandigarh Mayoral poll results after the presiding officer declared eight votes of Congress and AAP councillors invalid, resulting in the victory of the BJP candidate Manoj Sonkar in the mayoral elections.
Chaos erupted with the Aam Aadmi Party and Congress alleging electoral “malpractices” by the BJP. On the other hand, the BJP said that the “victory” is yet another jolt for the INDIA bloc.
BJP’s Manoj Sonkar defeated AAP-Congress candidate Kuldeep Singh. He received 16 votes, while Singh got 12 votes. Eight votes were declared invalid.
AAP and Congress 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.
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. (ANI)
