Chandigarh mayoral election: AAP cries foul over ‘dishonest’ Congress, issues word of caution for Delhi voters

Internally, there were celebrations in the Punjab Congress camp as the leaders called it “revenge” for AAP’s “excesses” to install its mayor in the Amritsar Municipal Corporation.

The Chandigarh Municipal Corporation has 35 members and an ex-officio member of the House, the Chandigarh MP. The AAP-Congress alliance had the numbers – with 13 AAP and six Congress councillors, and one vote from MP Manish Tewari – but it was the BJP with 16 councillors that won with 19 votes against 17 votes for the AAP-Congress candidate Prem Lata. Three councillors from the AAP-Congress alliance had cross-voted.

Interestingly, Congress’s Jasbir Singh Bunty and Taruna Mehta were elected senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor, respectively.

“The Congress was dishonest. Why was our mayor candidate not elected after a secret ballot while we supported the Congress senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor candidates? We could have also abstained from voting for these two. Unfortunately, the alliance was not among the INDIA bloc partners. It was between the Congress and BJP. They are also contesting the Delhi elections under a secret pact,” Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said, cautioning Delhi voters against voting for the Congress.

While no Punjab Congress leader has publicly reacted to AAP’s allegations, many said that the Chandigarh results were “revenge” for the Amritsar Municipal Corporation elections where AAP secured the mayor, senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor posts despite having fewer councillors than the Congress.

“AAP got its mayor elected in Amritsar municipal elections despite Congress being in majority. They subverted the Constitution of India and democracy,” a Congress leader said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

On Tuesday, Congress had submitted a memorandum to Punjab Governor Gulab Chand Kataria seeking a re-election saying that AAP’s Jatinder Singh Bhatia’s election as Amritsar mayor was a “murder of democracy” as Congress had won 41 seats in the 85-member House and had the support of four other councillors.

Speaking outside the Punjab Raj Bhawan, Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa had said that he would oppose the AAP-Congress alliance for the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation elections for what the AAP had done to Congress in Amritsar. Later, Congress had moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking a re-election.

AAP senior spokesperson Neel Garg, however, dismissed the allegations and blamed the Congress for violating coalition dharma. “What have we done in Amritsar? What is the revenge that they had to take? We do not have an alliance with Congress in Punjab. We were able to prove a majority in the Amritsar MC elections. The Congress was divided. It was not able to give its mayoral candidate. Our candidate was elected. That is why the high court also did not give them any relief. In Chandigarh, they had an alliance with us. But they cross-voted. They did not stand by us. On the other hand, we stood by their senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor candidates. They won,” he said.

“We are now cautioning our voters in Delhi. They have to be careful. We have told them not to vote for Congress as they are helping BJP,” he added.