Chandigarh, (Samajweekly) Despite getting the maximum 14 councillors elected to the 36-member House of Municipal Corporation Chandigarh, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which contested the polls for the first time, on Saturday failed to get its Mayor and his Deputy installed in the House.
The BJP, with the support of 13 councillors and its sitting MP Kirron Kher, got its candidate Sarabjit Kaur elected as Mayor, with Anup Gupta as her Deputy.
A total of 28 votes were polled as the Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal abstained from voting.
The BJP got 14 votes, the AAP 13 while one vote was declared invalid.
Gupta won through a draw of lots after votes were tied 14:14 between him and AAP’s Ram Chander Yadav.
Later, AAP leader Jarnail Singh accused the BJP of murdering democracy in the mayoral election.
He said that in the corporation elections, the residents of the city had voted the maximum number of 14 seats for AAP.
AAP’s victory in the Mayor election was certain, but the BJP deliberately cancelled a vote of AAP by insulting the verdict of the public and declared its Mayor forcibly, he told the media.
He said the elections for Mayor showed that there was a clandestine understanding between the BJP and the Congress to defeat the AAP.
After winning 12 seats in the elections, the BJP inducted a councillor from the Congress.
“Somehow BJP’s vote figures reached 14 by including one vote of from an MP and it equalled AAP’s 14 votes. But the BJP, by flouting all the rules and regulations, got its candidate appointed as the Mayor,” Singh added.
