Chandigarh mayoral polls: BJP pulls rug from under AAP feet again

The AAP-Congress harvester was believed to beryllium sitting beauteous with 20 votes – 13 of the AAP, six of the Congress and 1 of Chandigarh MP Manish Tewari, the ex-officio subordinate of the corporation. This was 1 much than the bulk of 19 required successful the 36-member House. But the BJP, which connected insubstantial had lone 16 votes, won.

Newly elected politician of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation BJP’s Harpreet Kaur Babla with different enactment councillors aft the announcement of the predetermination results. (Source: PTI Photo)

In the last count, Babla secured 19 votes, portion AAP-Congress campaigner Prem Lata managed to get lone 17, indicating cross-voting by 3 members.

Given past year’s developments, the Supreme Court had appointed retired Punjab and Haryana High Court justice Justice Jaishree Thakur arsenic an perceiver for the polls.

The run-up to the vote

Just 2 days up of the polls, Congress councillor Gurbax Rawat near his enactment of implicit 2 decades and joined the BJP, taking its tally to 17. The AAP-Congress-AAP tally had travel down to 19.

Then, precocious connected Wednesday, a time earlier the polls, outgoing AAP Mayor Kuldeep Kumar Dhalor on with his brother-in-law Rahul were booked by the Chandigarh Police successful transportation with a cheating case.

The lawsuit was registered based connected the ailment of a antheral called Ravi, who alleged that helium had paid Rs 75,000 done UPI transactions connected September 10, 11 and 13 past twelvemonth to Ravi successful instrumentality for a occupation arsenic a sanitation worker.

The determination was seen by the AAP-Congress arsenic an effort to forestall Dhalor from casting his vote.

The tribunal was moved, and conscionable 30 minutes earlier Thursday’s vote, the Punjab and Haryana High Court Thursday granted Dhalor anticipatory bail and permitted him to vote.

How the numbers moved

After cross-voting was believed to person helped its campaigner win, the BJP claimed respective councillors of some the Congress and AAP were “not happy” with Lata’s candidature arsenic she had jumped vessel from the Congress to AAP earlier the 2021 mayoral polls.

Chandigarh Congress president H S Lucky said: “The AAP-Congress confederation volition deliberate implicit the issue. We volition place who cross-voted and strict enactment would beryllium initiated against them.”

Interestingly, erstwhile the AAP successful anticipation possibly of cross-voting, shifted its councillors to a edifice successful Punjab a fewer days earlier the polls, 3 had not not turned up.

But connected Wednesday, they were by the AAP side, and publically expressed “full support” to the confederation candidate.

In immoderate consolation for the AAP and Congress, the harvester won the posts of elder lawman politician and lawman mayor. The Congress’s Jasbir Singh Bunty was elected elder lawman mayor, garnering 19 votes against the 17 for the BJP’s Bimla Dubey. Taruna Mehta of the Congress was elected lawman politician by the aforesaid borderline against the BJP’s Lakhbir Singh.