BJP & Congress came together to defeat AAP in Chandigarh, says Raghav Chadha

|HT|

Punjab Aam Aadmi Party unit co-incharge Raghav Chadha on Saturday alleged that BJP and the Congress came together to defeat the AAP in the mayoral elections on Saturday despite the party emerging as the single largest party in the municipal corporation House. He said that the mayor should have been from the AAP as it had the highest number of 14 councillors in the House. Sarabjit Kaur Dhillon of the BJP was declared winner after she polled 14 votes and the AAP candidate got 13 votes and one vote was declared invalid. The seven Congress councillors and the lone Shiromani Akali Dal member abstained from voting.

“The BJP and the Congress came together. One councillor shifted to the BJP and then the MP was allowed to vote,” he said, adding that even the administration colluded with the BJP to ensure their candidate’s win. He questioned why Congress abstained from voting. When the result was declared, Chadha came to the MC office along with councillors and staged a protest, demanding a meeting with deputy commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh.

Chadha’s claims, however, go against Section 38 of the Punjab MC Act, 1976, as extended to Chandigarh. According to it, an MP can vote in mayoral elections and if there are two candidates, the person who gets 50% and more votes of the total strength of the House, he or she is declared the winner.

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