Chandigarh mayor election: AAP-Congress move Punjab-Haryana HC over alleged vote tampering

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Congress on January 30, filed a petition in the Punjab-Haryana High Court, expressing concerns over the recently held mayoral elections in Chandigarh.

The court is scheduled to hear the matter on January 31. Both parties accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of 'tampering' and 'cheating' after it secured the top three positions in the Chandigarh mayoral polls.

In protest, councilors from AAP and Congress created a disturbance in the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation House following the victory of BJP's Manoj Sonkar as mayor.

They also boycotted the subsequent elections for senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor, resulting in the win of BJP's Kuljit Sandhu and Rajinder Sharma.

The elections, held as per the Punjab and Haryana high court's directions, are significant as opposition parties Congress and AAP united to contest them.

BJP's Sonkar received 16 votes, while AAP's Kuldeep Kumar got 12, with eight votes deemed invalid. Following the results, a disheartened Kumar stated that 'democracy has been murdered' in Chandigarh.

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