• Source:JND
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Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday rebuked the BJP alleging that the latter used malpractice to win the Chandigarh mayor election. Addressing a press conference, CM Mann said the day will be remembered as a black day for the country's democracy. "This has come when we celebrated the Republic Day a few days ago. Now, in the polls, the Constitution has been trampled. I will say that the BJP looted the mayoral elections," he said.

In the mayoral polls, BJP’s Manoj Sonkar defeated Kuldeep Kumar, who was a Congress-backed AAP candidate. Sonkar secured 16 votes against Kumar’s 12 votes. As many as eight votes were declared invalid.

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Talking to reporters at Punjab Bhawan in Chandigarh, Mann said the BJP had a habit of breaking democratically elected governments, citing examples of MP, Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra. "Earlier, such examples have been there and they did so in Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Goa, and Maharashtra...they do this in northeastern states," Mann said.

Expressing his concern over counting in the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls, Mann said if 36 votes were not counted impartially and transparently, how can we expect a fair exercise when the votes are counter in the entire country? He also admonished the presiding officer calling him a spineless person. “BJP is doing a scam in counting 36 votes, how will 90 crore votes be counted... I demand that a sedition case be filed against such a presiding officer... The concern is that if they cannot tolerate the victory of the opponents in small towns, then what will happen in the Lok Sabha elections?” Mann added.

This was the first election in which the Congress and AAP jointly fought against the BJP. The poll exercise witnessed a high-voltage drama as the Opposition alleged Anil Masih, the presiding officer, marked a tick on the polled votes while counting and making his signature, The Tribune reported.

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As part of the alliance, the AAP contested for the mayor's post while the Congress had fielded candidates for senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor.