After Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s dramatic break-up from India block, the chandigarh mayoral election was seen as the first test to show its political strength. However, the BJP used its political and state power to fraudulently swing the results in its favour. Bjp’s Manoj Sonkar defeated Aam Aadmi Party’s Mr Kumar by a narrow margin of four votes in the election. The Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) formed an alliance and nominated joint candidates for the mayoral and other posts, posing a challenge to the BJP. Though, BJP won the Chandigarh mayoral election by cheating.
Stealing in broad day light
The election was expected to be an easy victory for the India block candidate as the BJP had only 14 councilors, while the Aam Aadmi Party had 13 and the Congress seven. In all, they had a total of 20 votes. The BJP, however, managed to snatch victory by resorting to deceit and treachery. Eight votes cast by the councilors of India Block were declared illegal by the presiding officer. Opposition parties alleged that ballot papers were tampered with after they were voted out – they demanded a recounting of votes. India Block has already approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court challenging the outcome of the election.
Reaction
The BJP has come under severe criticism from opposition leaders and civil society for blatant misuse of electoral machinery and violation of democratic norms. Aam Aadmi Party convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal accused the BJP of cheating and said the party can go to any extent to win the national elections. “It’s very disturbing,” he tweeted.
चंडीगढ़ मेयर चुनाव में दिन दहाड़े जिस तरह से बेईमानी की गई है, वो बेहद चिंताजनक है। यदि एक मेयर चुनाव में ये लोग इतना गिर सकते हैं तो देश के चुनाव में तो ये किसी भी हद तक जा सकते हैं। ये बेहद चिंताजनक है।
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) January 30, 2024
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the BJP has killed all values of democracy and the Constitution on the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi’s death anniversary. He said the BJP’s lust for power was evident in the Chandigarh mayoral polls and warned that the saffron party would try to commit a similar fraud in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. He wrote on his x handle : ”
The brazen misuse of electoral machinery at the behest of BJP in the Chandigarh Mayoral polls will further erode the confidence of people in free and fair elections.
As I said yesterday, 2024 is the last chance for us to save Democracy. If we do not come together, to save it…
— Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) January 30, 2024
Several opposition leader also shared a video showing the residing officer wring something on the ballot papers. They claimed that the officer was tampering with the ballot paper.
ये है भाजपाई भ्रष्टाचार का सरेआम सबूत, जिसमें चंडीगढ़ मेयर चुनाव में बिना बहुमत के भाजपा के उम्मीदवार को जिताने के लिए भाजपाई पीठासीन अधिकारी मतपत्रों को अवैध बनाने के लिए पेन चलाकर उन्हें अवैध बना रहा है।
चुनाव आयोग और न्यायालय को स्वत: संज्ञान लेकर दंडात्मक कार्रवाई करने के… pic.twitter.com/44z2s0yd7f
— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) January 30, 2024
Murder of democracy
The BJP’s victory in the Chandigarh mayoral election has also exposed the weakening of the democratic system and institutional decline. The BJP has shown that it can bend laws to any extent and distort facts as it wants , and that it has no respect for the people’s mandate or constitutional values. The Chandigarh mayoral election has set a dangerous precedent for the future of democracy in India.
