The INDIA bloc’s first attempt at a joint governance effort was scandalously scuttled by the BJP in Chandigarh on Tuesday.

Despite having secured a majority in the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, the AAP-Congress alliance lost the mayoral election to the BJP after eight votes were declared invalid. Defeated AAP candidate Kuldeep Kumar cited video footage of the returning officer Anil Masih marking the ballots to allege that the votes were fraudulently invalidated.

No counting agents were allowed.

Congress leader Pawan Bansal told reporters in Chandigarh: “If you notice, the presiding officer immediately vacated the chair after the voting and the BJP candidate was there standing beside him. BJP members rushed in, took away the ballot papers and tore them before anyone could even go in and see.”

The 2021 municipal polls in the Union Territory threw up a hung council with the AAP as the single-largest party. However, the BJP has ruled the corporation so far due
to abstentions by the Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal.

The annual mayoral polls took place on Martyr’s Day on the orders of Punjab and Haryana High Court after being deferred on January 18 on grounds of Masih — who is also a councillor nominated by the Chandigarh administrator — being ill. Masih is also politically associated with the BJP.

AAP’s national convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal told reporters here: “Yesterday, the Chandigarh administration ordered that the media would be stopped (from covering the proceedings)…. If there is fraud in counting 36 votes, I don’t know what kind of fraud is done for counting 90 crore votes in the country. They can go to any extent to win…. If they still lose they won’t leave their chair like former (US President Donald) Trump.”

The current party position, after defections, in the council is BJP 14, AAP 13, Congress 7, and Akalis 1. Chandigarh’s MP — Kirron Kher of the BJP — also has a vote. Manoj Kumar won 16 and Kuldeep Kumar 12 votes in a secret ballot.

Following a series of events during the counting deemed as fraudulent by the Opposition, BJP president J.P. Nadda cheerily tweeted: “That the INDI Alliance fought their first electoral battle and still lost to BJP shows that neither their arithmetic is working nor their chemistry.”

Masih told ANI: “When we were issuing the ballot papers, a few AAP and Congress councillors were concerned that the papers had spots and marks — so, they asked me to change around 11 ballot papers. I honoured their request and kept the ballot papers in question on the side and issued them fresh ballot papers...

“When I finished the counting of votes, I was about to declare the results as per the process. BJP candidate Manoj Sonkar received 16 votes and AAP candidate Kuldeep received 12 votes; 8 votes were invalid.... I asked the polling agent of the AAP-Congress candidate to check the ballot paper but instead of doing that the AAP and a few Congress councillors jumped on the table to disrupt the process, captured the ballot papers and tore them up... The AAP and Congress hatched a conspiracy to derail the election process...”