In a significant win for the Aam Aadmi Party, the Supreme Court ordered on Tuesday that votes for AAP Mayor Candidate Kuldeep Kumar were cast in all eight rejected ballots.

Additionally, it mandated that the poll’s votes be recounted and that these eight be recognised as legitimate votes. The Court said that results would then be announced based on it.

In order to become mayor, BJP’s Manoj Sonkar defeated Kuldeep Kumar, receiving 16 votes against to his opponent’s 12. However, Sonkar later resigned, while three AAP councillors defected to the BJP.

With the Supreme Court’s order, AAP mayoral candidate Kuldeep Kumar, who was also the petitioner in the case, has been declared winner of the election.

The eight votes that Returning Officer Anil Masih declared invalid were genuine, according to a three-judge panel led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud. The ballots were cast in support of AAP mayoral candidate Kuldeep Kumar.

The bench observed that Anil Masih intentionally attempted to tamper with eight votes that were cast in the petitioner’s favor.

On February 5, the Supreme Court rapped the returning officer as well, saying that it was evident he had tampered with the ballots and that he should face legal consequences. It further stated that his actions amounted to murder and mockery of democracy.

Meanwhile, Delhi CM and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal congratulated Kuldeep Kumar on becoming the new Mayor of Chandigarh. Taking to X, formerly Twitter, he said, on behalf of INDIA alliance, many congratulations to Kuldeep Kuamr on becoming the Mayor of Chandigarh. He also said this is only possible because of Indian democracy and Supreme Court.

Following the decision, AAP’s workers were seen celebrating Supreme Court’s decision. The party workers can be seen hugging eachother as Kuldeep Kumar was announced the new Mayor of Chandigarh.

For unversed, the result of the Chandigarh Mayor polls were announced on January 30, where BJP candidate Manoj Sonkar declared winner by 16 votes.

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It was the first polling battle between the INDIA bloc and the BJP, and BJP candidate Manoj Kumar Sonkar emerged victorious in the high-stakes Chandigarh mayoral election on Tuesday. Following the invalidation of 8 votes cast for the opposition alliance candidate, he defeated Kuldeep Singh, the joint candidate of the AAP and Congress.

Out of the 36 votes, including the vote of ex-officio member Kirron Kher MP, Manoj Sonkar received 16 votes, whereas Kuldeep Singh, the nominee for the INDIA bloc, received 12 votes after 8 votes were declared invalid.

As the AAP-Congress objected to the decision to deem 8 votes illegal, Sonkar was essentially elected to the 35-member Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, causing chaos in the House.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) announced that they would contest the decision to declare the eight votes invalid in an appeal to the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Congress and AAP formed an alliance to challenge the BJP’s eight-year dominance on the mayor’s office, and the Chandigarh mayoral election was seen as a test for the INDIA bloc. While the Congress candidates ran for senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor positions, the AAP had a candidate for mayor.

The AAP had 13 council members and the BJP held 14 of the 35 seats from the last election. In the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, Siromani Akalidal had one member while the Congress had seven seats.

AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal blamed cheating in broad daylight for the win. He initially responded to the news by saying that the BJP could stoop so low to win the mayoral elections and that it would do whatever it took to win the Lok Sabha polls.

After Kejriwal’s allegation, a video was shared from AAP’s official Instagram handle, which is now going viral on the internet, where it can be seen that an electoral official is doing something fishy while counting the votes. Sharing the video the party has questioned that doesn’t this walking pen give suspicion that something is wrong?

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The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) candidate Anup Gupta on Tuesday won the Chandigarh Mayor election by defeating Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) candidate Jasbir Singh by just one vote. Out of 29 total seats, BJP bagged 15 seats while AAP won 14 seats.

The Congress, which has six councilors, and Shiromani Akali Dal, which has one councilor, abstained from voting, which made it easier for the BJP to win. A first-time councilor, Gupta was elected in 2021 from Ward 11.

Anup Gupta has previously held the post of Deputy Mayor. He had also held the post of BJP secretary. He is considered a close aide of all top BJP leaders, including Sanjay Tandon, Arun Sood and MP Kirron Kher.

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Similar to last year, the BJP defeated the AAP by just one vote to win the position of mayor of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation. Both BJP and AAP have 14 councillors each in the House, while Chandigarh’s MP, who at present is BJP’s Kirron Kher, also has a vote as an ex-officio member of the municipal corporation House.

Last year, each party received 14 votes. However, one vote for AAP candidate Anju Katyal was ruled illegal, allowing Sarabjit Kaur of the BJP to win the election. Gurcharan Jeet Singh Kala, a Congress councilor, switched parties in June 2022, bringing the BJP’s strength in the house to 14, making the race for mayor a tough fight.

Voting for the Chandigarh mayor’s election began at 11 am on Tuesday in the assembly hall of the municipal corporation.

Currently, the Municipal Corporation has 35 councilors.

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