Three Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Chandigarh councillors joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Manoj Kumar Sonkar quit as the mayor on Sunday, a day before the Supreme Court is scheduled to resume its hearing on a petition alleging tampering of votes in the mayoral election last month.
The AAP councillors' switch to the BJP is set to give the latter the numerical edge in the event of a fresh election. In a House of 35 (and one MP, the BJP's Kirron Kher, as ex-officio member), a party needs 19 votes to win the poll. The latest development will reduce the strength of the AAP and the Congress, which had jointly contested the poll, from 20 to 17, and increase the BJP's support from 16 (including one from the Shiromani Akali Dal) to 19.
"AAP councillors Neha Musavat and Poonam Sandeep Kumar joined the BJP and Gurcharan Singh Kala returned to the fold on Sunday," former Chandigarh BJP chief Arun Sood said.
This story is from the February 19, 2024 edition of Hindustan Times.
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This story is from the February 19, 2024 edition of Hindustan Times.
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