Democracy has been crushed: Priyanka Gandhi on Chandigarh Mayoral poll results

After the high drama witnessed in the Chandigarh Mayoral poll results as the presiding officer declared eight votes of Congress and AAP councillors invalid resulting in the victory of BJP candidate Manoj Sonkar in the mayoral elections Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi alleged that rules law democracy its dignity and the Constitution were kept aside for the sake of power reported news agency ANIThe way democracy has been crushed in the Chandigarh Mayor elections is in front of the entire country Rules law democracy its dignity and the Constitution were kept aside for the sake of power The people of the country are seeing that even in the system of one city the voice of the opposition and the public is being openly suppressed If they can go to this extent in local bodies then how can the public trust them in state and central elections Doubt is spreading on a large scale among the public Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi posted on XEarlier Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had also citicised the Chandigarh Mayoral poll results and accused BJP of killing democracyIt is beyond imagination what the BJP which can kill democracy in front of the whole world in the Mayor elections will do to remain in power in Delhi Years ago on this day Godse had assassinated Gandhiji and today Godseists sacrificed his ideals and constitutional values Rahul Gandhi saidMeanwhile chaos erupted on Tuesday with the Aam Aadmi Party AAP and Congress alleging electoral malpractices by the BJP On the other hand the BJP said that the victory is yet another jolt for the INDIA bloc reported ANIAAP termed the poll as unconstitutional and illegal and an act of deshdroh treason reported ANIBJPs Manoj Sonkar defeated AAPCongress candidate Kuldeep Singh He received 16 votes while Singh got 12 votes Eight votes were declared invalidMeanwhile the AAP and Congress filed a petition in the PunjabHaryana High Court highlighting concerns over the integrity of the recently conducted mayoral elections in Chandigarh The court will hear the matter on January 31 reported ANIMeanwhile Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said that there was brazen misuse of electoral machinery at the behest of the BJP in the Chandigarh Mayoral pollsThe brazen misuse of electoral machinery at the behest of BJP in the Chandigarh Mayoral polls will further erode the confidence of people in free and fair elections As I said yesterday 2024 is the last chance for us to save Democracy If we do not come together to save it from BJP our future generations shall repent On Gandhi jis MartyrsDay Godse worshipper BJP has murdered Democracy and all ethos of Constitution Kharge posted on XAAP Chandigarh Mayor candidate Kuldeep Kumar was in tears after the result was declared He said Democracy has been murderedAAP leader Raghav Chadha questioned the Chandigarh mayoral poll process and referred to the poll process as unconstitutional and illegal and an act of deshdroh treason He accused the BJP of orchestrating it after sensing its defeat in the election reported ANIVictory of our alliance was certain but sensing imminent defeat the BJP hatched conspiracies First the presiding officer who was to conduct polls on January 18 was made to fall ill Thereafter an attempt was made to buy councillors of the AAP When BJPs operation lotus failed then they did fraud in the mayoral polls said Chadha reported ANIBJPs presiding officer did not allow any election agent of any party to come forward during the counting of votes Whenever counting takes place election agents of parties are allowed to come Then after the BJPs presiding officer inked the ballot paper using his pen and then declared them invalid during the counting of votes he added further reported ANIDelhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal alleged the Bharatiya Janata Party BJP indulged in hooliganism during the Chandigarh mayoral elections and called the polls a black day for democracyPresiding Officer of Chandigarh Mayor election Anil Masih reacted to the vote counting of the Chandigarh Mayoral elections 2024 and said that there were around 11 ballot papers with which they AAP had a problemThere were around 11 ballot papers with which they AAP had a problem I honoured their wish and issued new ballot papers I declared the result after that BJP won 16 votes AAP won 12 votes and he rest of the 8 votes were invalid After I declared the result the Opposition started disrupting the process and hijacked the ballot papers AAP and Congress conspired to derail the election process he said reported ANIAfter BJPs Manoj won the Chandigarh mayor election a ruckus broke out in the House Congress and AAP councillors accused the BJP of cheating and not following the due electoral processThe polls were conducted today after the presiding officer fell ill on the initial date January 8 of holding the pollsThe Punjab and Haryana High Court on January 24 2024 announced the decision to hold the Chandigarh Mayoral Elections on January 30 and also vested the responsibility for security in the Chandigarh PoliceWith inputs from ANI