Chandigarh mayor polls: AAP-Congress allege vote tampering, share video

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has released a video that shows the Presiding Officer of the Chandigarh mayoral election, held today, allegedly manipulating the ballot papers. The AAP raised allegations of rigging after the BJP candidate was declared the winner in the high-stakes poll after 8 votes of the INDIA bloc candidates were deemed invalid.

Sharing the video, Punjab AAP chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring called it a "murder democracy". He said, "The attached video clearly shows the presiding officer manipulating votes."

."BJP is not just corrupt. It is hell-bent to murder democracy. They are comfortable using muscle power, agencies, money, pressure tactics, using the officers and what notâ€æ The attached video clearly shows the presiding officer manipulating votes," he said.

Raja Warring added, "Today’s incident is not just concerning the political classâ€æ it should be concerning every parent, for every student, for every citizen of this countryâ€æ Do we want such a future for our kids? Do we want a dictatorship? And if the answer is noâ€æ it’s time to fight back! Otherwise, it will soon be too late".

Meanwhile, AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal said the decision to cancel the 8 votes of INDIA bloc candidate Kuldeep Singh is "extremely worrying". He said if these kinds of incidents happen in a Mayor election, the BJP "can go to any extent" in the Lok Sabha election.

"The manner in which dishonesty has been done in broad daylight in the Chandigarh Mayor elections is extremely worrying. If these people can stoop so low in a mayor's election, then they can go to any extent in the country's elections. This is very worrying," the Delhi Chief Minister tweeted.

BJP candidate Manoj Kumar Sonkar was declared the winner in the Chandigarh mayoral election held today, after 8 votes of the AAP-Congress opposition alliance candidate Kuldeep Singh were declared invalid. This was the first poll battle between the INDIA bloc and the BJP.

Sonkar secured 16 votes out of the 36 total polled votes, including the vote of ex-officio member Kirron Kher MP; the INDIA bloc candidate Kuldeep Singh secured 20 votes. However, 8 votes were declared invalid, and the BJP candidate emerged victorious.

The decision to declare the votes invalid led to chaos as the AAP-Congress protested. The AAP announced that they will approach the Punjab and Haryana High Court, questioning the decision.