Chandigarh
Police on Wednesday used a water cannon and resorted to lathi-charge when the protesters tried to force their way through the barricades. This was done to disperse members of the Congress’ student wing NSUI marching towards the BJP office to protest against the alleged rigging of the recent Chandigarh mayoral polls.
Led by National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) Chandigarh president Sachin Galav, the protesters raised slogans against the BJP and demanded that Presiding Officer Anil Masih be arrested for allegedly tampering with the ballot papers during the January 30 mayoral elections.
Speaking to reporters, Galav, who is also a municipal councillor, slammed the BJP for rigging the mayoral polls and accused of murdering democracy. He questioned that if the BJP could do so in the mayoral polls, what will happen in the general elections. The Congress and the AAP have been holding protests against the alleged rigging of the mayoral polls for several days now. The two parties had joined hands to take on the BJP in the elections. The BJP swept the Chandigarh mayoral polls on January 30.
Manoj Sonkar of the BJP won the mayor’s post with 16 votes. His rival and AAP candidate Kuldeep Kumar got 12 votes. Eight votes were declared invalid. Opposition councillors alleged that the presiding officer had tampered with the ballot papers, a charge rubbished by the BJP.
Taking note of an AAP councillor’s plea alleging wrongdoing during the polls, the Supreme court issued notices to the Chandigarh authorities, including the civic body.
A bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, Justice J B Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra expressed annoyance after watching the video of the electoral proceedings and said that prima facie, the returning officer was defacing the ballot papers.
