BJP wins Chandigarh mayor election, AAP-Congress to go to court over invalid votes

The first poll battle between INDIA bloc and the BJP ended in the victory for the saffron party as BJP has won the mayoral election of Chandigarh. BJP candidate Manoj Kumar Sonkar won the high-stakes contest held on Tuesday. 

He defeated the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-Congress joint candidate Kuldeep Singh after 8 votes of the opposition alliance candidate were declared invalid.

Manoj Sonkar secured 16 votes out of the 36 total polled votes, including the vote of ex-officio member Kirron Kher, while the INDIA bloc candidate Kuldeep Singh secured 12 votes, after 8 votes were declared invalid. 

Chaos broke out in the House as the AAP-Congress alliance protested the decision to declare 8 votes invalid, effectively leading to Sonkar's victory in the 35-member Chandigarh Municipal Corporation.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) announced that they will approach the Punjab and Haryana High Court questioning the decision to declare the 8 votes invalid.

The Chandigarh Mayor election was being considered a litmus test for the INDIA bloc, where the Congress and AAP forged an alliance to challenge the BJP's stronghold on the mayor's office over the past eight years. 

The AAP fielded its candidate for the mayor's position, while the Congress candidates contested for the senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor roles.