Ahead of the scheduled protest over the Chandigarh Mayor election by the Aam Aadmi Party, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kajriwal said that people arriving to protest peacefully have been stopped at various places across the national capital. “All across Delhi, they are detaining elected MLAs, councillors and volunteers who were coming to the party office. What is this going on?” posted CM Kejriwal on X.
“Stolen votes in the first Chandigarh Mayor election. Now the people coming to protest peacefully against this are being stopped at various places across Delhi,” Kejriwal said. Meanwhile, hitting out at the union government over the detention of AAP MLA, Saurabh Bharadwaj said, “Has there been an emergency in the country now? ”
“This is our elected MLA from Gandhinagar. Has there been an emergency in the country now? Can’t even hold a peaceful protest?” Delhi Minister Atishi also said that buses full of AAP volunteers have been detained outside the party office. “Heavy barricades all across Delhi, buses full of AAP volunteers being detained, hundreds of para-military forces outside the AAP party office – why is the BJP so scared of a protest on the Chandigarh mayor elections?” Delhi Minister Atishi posted on X.
AAP leader Priyanka Kakkar said on Wednesday that Kejriwal and Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann will take part in the party’s protest at the BJP office in Delhi in connection with the high drama seen in the Chandigarh Mayoral poll results. The AAP leader termed the Chandigarh mayoral polls “unconstitutional, illegal, and immoral.” She also accused the BJP of practising,”electoral malpractices” to win the polls.
“Yesterday, the BJP won the Chandigarh mayoral polls in an unconstitutional, illegal, and immoral manner. Everything was captured by the camera. If the BJP can do such things just to win the mayoral polls, think what kind of electoral malpractice it can do in the election in which 90 crore people cast their votes,” Kakkar said.
“Delhi CM Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann will take part in the party’s protest at the BJP office in Delhi on February 2 against this,” she added. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Congress have moved to the Supreme Court regarding the Chandigarh Mayoral poll results. CM Bhagwant Mann also called the Chandigarh mayoral poll “an example of murder of democracy.”
Earlier, there was a rift between the protestors and the police at the spot. Youth Congress workers were heard chanting the slogan ‘Bhrastachar band karo’ (Stop the corruption). However, the police detained the protestors after a while. A hearing was also held on January 31 in the Punjab Haryana High Court regarding tampering with the results of the Chandigarh Mayor election.
In the Punjab Haryana High Court, Kuldeep Kumar, who was the mayoral candidate from the AAP and Congress, was being represented by Advocate General of Punjab Gurminder Gary. Advocate Anil Mehta was representing Chandigarh Municipal Corporation. After hearing this entire matter, the Punjab Haryana High Court gave Chandigarh Municipal Corporation and Chandigarh Administration three weekstime to file their replies in this matter. The next hearing on this matter will be on February 26.
The BJP’s Manoj Sonkar was declared the Mayor of Chandigarh on Tuesday after he won the mayoral polls with 16 votes against the 12 votes bagged by Congress-AAP candidate Kuldeep Tita. Eight votes were declared invalid. Eight votes, which were declared invalid in the Chandigarh Mayoral polls, have led opposition leaders to raise allegations of rigging with Congress and AAP, attacking the BJP-led central government over the issue.
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