Two councillors of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the Chandigarh mayoral elections. Suman Devi and Poonam Devi switched allegiances ahead of the high-stakes polls scheduled to be held in January.
As per speculations, the duo is likely to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Panchkula today.
This is being viewed as a big development in favour of the saffron party as it makes efforts to regain control of the mayor’s post in Chandigarh.
BJP’s Harpreet Kaur Babla is the sitting mayor of Chandigarh. She won the election by amassing 19 votes. The victory came after a notable instance of cross-voting, which helped Babla surpass the AAP-Congress alliance, which managed to secure only 17 votes.
Amit Shah in Panchkula today
Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah is in Panchkula today to participate in several events. Ahead of his visit, Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini conducted a review on Tuesday to check the final preparations for the programs in which Shah is scheduled to take part, according to an official statement reported by PTI. Saini instructed the relevant authorities to make sure that all required arrangements were completed.
Chandigarh mayor election 2024: Tampering allegations and SC ruling
The Supreme Court had declared Kuldeep Kumar of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as the mayor of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, overturning the previous result in which the BJP candidate was initially declared the winner. The verdict came on February 20 last year.
The controversy arose after the presiding officer of the mayoral election, Anil Masih, was seen on camera invalidating eight ballot papers that favoured the AAP-Congress alliance. This action had initially impacted the election outcome in favour of the BJP.
Following the court’s decision, Kuldeep Kumar was officially recognised as the elected mayor, putting an end to the dispute surrounding the 2024 Chandigarh mayoral elections.
