On Sunday (January 18), Chandigarh Mayor Manoj Sonkar (from BJP) resigned from his post as Mayor of the city. Now, elections will be held again for the post of Mayor in the Union Territory which is the capital of both Punjab and Haryana. Sonkar resigned before the hearing in the Supreme Court over his election. Meanwhile, before the fresh elections, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has suffered a major setback as three of its councilors have joined BJP.
AAP councilors Neha Musawat, Poonam and Gurcharan Kala were given party membership by BJP General Secretary Vinod Tawde. With this, BJP now has the upper hand in the Municipal Corporation. BJP now has 18 councilors in the Municipal Corporation, whereas AAP is left with only 10 councilors. Apart from this, Congress has 7 councilors and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has 1 councilor.
प्रधानमंत्री @narendramodi जी के नेतृत्व में जनकल्याणकारी नीतियों से प्रभावित होकर चंडीगढ़ से आम आदमी पार्टी की पार्षद पूनम देवी, नेहा और गुरचरण काला जी आज दिल्ली में भाजपा में शामिल हुए।
— Vinod Tawde (@TawdeVinod) February 18, 2024
AAP ने उनके साथ धोखा किया है, लेकिन भाजपा उन्हें बिना किसी झूठे वादे के उनकी क्षमता के… pic.twitter.com/5U5RazpN4S
Councilor Gurcharan Kala, who took membership of BJP, said that AAP had been putting pressure on him. However, impressed by the works of PM Modi, Kala took membership of BJP. Neha Musawat has also made similar allegations against Aam Aadmi Party.
In Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, 36 councilors together elect the post of Mayor. After recent updates, BJP has the support of 17 councilors, 1 MP (MPs also vote in the Chandigarh Mayor elections), and the lone councilor of SAD. At the same time, AAP and Congress together have only 17 votes. It is also worth noting that on the basis of new political equations, AAP is finding it difficult to get the support of Congress, because it had recently announced to contest the Punjab-Chandigarh Lok Sabha elections alone.
The matter will also be heard in the Supreme Court today (February 19, 2024). During last elections, BJP’s Manoj Sonkar was elected Mayor in the elections held on January 30. The alliance of Aam Aadmi Party and Congress had made allegations of rigging in this election and had approached the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court had summoned election officer Anil Masih in this case, who was accused of irregularities.
On Manoj Sonkar’s resignation, BJP clarified that after his election, the opposition was continuously creating ruckus and was not allowing the city to run properly, that is why Manoj Sonkar resigned. In the last elections, AAP had fielded Kuldeep Dholor against Manoj Sonkar, who had to face defeat.
