THE JHARKHAND STORY DESK
Chandigarh, Jan 30: In the first electoral face-off between the INDIA bloc and the BJP, Manoj Kumar Sonkar of BJP secured victory in the significant Chandigarh mayoral election held on Tuesday.
Eight votes deemed invalid
He triumphed over the AAP-Congress combined candidate Kuldeep Singh when 8 votes for the opposition alliance candidate were deemed invalid.
Out of the 36 votes cast, including the vote of ex-officio member MP Kirron Kher, Manoj Sonkar received 16 votes, whereas Kuldeep Singh, the nominee for the INDIA bloc, received 12 votes after eight votes were ruled invalid.
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AAP to move HC over invalid votes decision
As Sonkar emerged victorious in the 35-member Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, a commotion broke out in the House due to the AAP-Congress’s protest over the decision to deem 8 votes invalid.
With regard to the decision to deem the eight votes invalid, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) declared that they would be petitioning the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
Vital assessment for INDIA bloc
The Chandigarh Mayor election served as a crucial assessment for the INDIA bloc, where the Congress and AAP collaborated in an alliance to contest the BJP’s dominance in the mayor’s office for the last eight years. The AAP put forward its candidate for the mayoral position, while Congress candidates vied for the roles of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor.
In the preceding election, the BJP secured victory in 14 out of 35 seats, while AAP had 13 councilors. The Chandigarh Municipal Corporation had one member from Siromani Akalidal and seven representatives from Congress.
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