AAP Slams BJP over Supreme Court Order on Chandigarh Mayor Elections

Members from the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) criticized the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation over the Supreme Court‘s order on the mayoral elections. During a house meeting on Monday, AAP councillors raised slogans, stating that the Supreme Court’s observations supported their claims of irregularities in the elections. The AAP had approached the Supreme Court alleging misconduct by the returning officer, resulting in the BJP candidate being declared the winner.

Ravinder Bharadwaj, an AAP councillor, pointed out that the entire country witnessed the conduct of the returning officer on video. Praveen Kumar, another AAP councillor, stated that the Supreme Court’s statement had exposed the BJP in the Chandigarh elections. Raja Iqbal Singh, the leader of the opposition, mentioned that BJP councillors also protested and entered the well of the house in response to the slogans raised by AAP.

Furthermore, the BJP councillors objected to the proposal of increasing the mayor’s discretionary funds from ₹7.5 crore to ₹500 crore. Former South MCD mayor Kamaljeet Sehrawat suggested that the funds should be distributed equally among the councillors for basic repairs in their respective wards. The mayor’s office stated that the remaining unspent money from the previous years would be utilized and other departments’ funds would not be affected.

In response, Raja Iqbal Singh asserted that allocating such a large amount of funds at the discretion of the mayor was illegal, and they would oppose any increase in the discretionary funds. The budget discussion initiated by Congress councillor Nazia Danish was met with arguments from the BJP councillors concerning the non-formation of various committees.

The first budget of the Aam Aadmi Party government for the corporation will be presented in the House on February 8, following the discussions.

Source: Hindustan Times