Last Updated: January 30, 2024, 13:40 IST
Manoj Sonkar (R) becomes the Chandigarh mayor. (Image: X/@ANI)
The BJP’s win with 15 votes poses as a significant setback for the AAP-Congress alliance in the INDIA bloc
In the first face-off between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the INDIA bloc in the Chandigarh mayoral elections, the saffron party’s candidate, Manoj Sonkar, won the mayor’s post.
The BJP’s win with 15 votes poses as a significant setback for the AAP-Congress alliance in the INDIA bloc.
This was the first battle between the Bharatiya Janata Party and opposition’s INDIA bloc before the Lok Sabha polls. The saffron party secured a win by acquiring 15 seats, the AAP-Congress alliance won 20 seats — AAP (7) and Congress (13) — while the Shiromani Akali Dal won just one seat.
Why are the Mayoral Polls of Chandigarh Important?
The mayoral poll in Chandigarh holds a certain importance as the INDIA bloc members, Congress and AAP, have joined hands to contest this election against the BJP.
As an alliance, AAP is contesting for the mayor’s position while Congress candidates are running for senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor post.
Notably, the saffron party has held the mayor’s post for the past eight years. The party has 14 councillors in the 35-member Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh.
Who Were the Contesting Candidates?
The mayoral elections are done through secret ballot. For the 2024 election, third of the term, the mayor’s post was reserved for the Scheduled Caste category.
BJP had fielded Manoj Sonkar for the mayoral post against AAP’s Kuldeep Kumar. And for the senior deputy mayor post, BJP’s Kuljeet Sandhu contested against Congress’ Gurpreet Singh Gabi.
For the post of deputy mayor, BJP’s Rajinder Sharma was against Congress’ Nirmala Devi.
