AAP leader Raghav Chadha on Tuesday questioned the Chandigarh mayoral poll process and said they will approach the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking fresh elections.
The BJP swept the Chandigarh mayoral polls, winning all the three posts including of mayor, as it defeated the Congress-AAP alliance.
Chadha said the poll process was not only “unconstitutional and illegal” but also an act of “deshdroh” (treason) as he accused the BJP of “orchestrating” it after sensing its defeat in the election.
Accompanied by senior Congress leader Pawan Kumar Bansal, the AAP MP said they will approach the Punjab and Haryana High Court, seeking fresh elections and also action against the presiding officer.
BJP candidate Manoj Sonkar defeated AAP’s Kuldeep Kumar, who was fielded as part of an alliance with the Congress, to win the post of mayor.
Sonkar polled 16 votes while Kumar secured 12. Eight votes were declared invalid.
The councillors of the AAP and the Congress later boycotted the elections to the posts of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor, leading to the victory of BJP candidates Kuljit Sandhu and Rajinder Sharma on their respective posts.
The poll results came as a setback for the AAP and the Congress which were contesting the mayoral polls in an alliance.