Chandigarh Mayor Manoj Sonkar Quits, Three Aam Aadmi Party Councillors Join BJP Ahead of Court Hearing (Watch Video)
A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said it is obvious that the returning officer had defaced the ballot papers.
New Delhi, February 19: Three Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillors on Sunday evening joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in the national capital. The three Aam Aadmi Party Chandigarh councillors who joined BJP are Punam Devi, Neha Musawat, and Gurcharan Kala in the presence of party National General Secretary Vinod Tawde, in Delhi. National General Secretary Vinod Tawde said Chandigarh councillors joined the party as they were unhappy with the treatment being meted out to them in AAP.
"Chandigarh councillors Punam Devi, Neha Musawat, and Gurcharan Kala have joined BJP today. They are unhappy with the behaviour of their party with them. BJP will respect them and they will help in the development of Chandigarh," Vinod Tawde told ANI. Chandigarh Mayor Manoj Sonkar Resigns Day Before Supreme Court Hearing in Vote-Count Row.
Neha Musawat, who joined the BJP alleged that the AAP party made false promises to us. "Today after getting inspired by the work of PM Modi, I have joined BJP," Musawat said. Meanwhile, Punam Devi, who joined the BJP said that she joined BJP after getting inspired from the work done by PM Modi.
"I joined BJP after getting inspired from the works done by PM Modi... I have left AAP because they are a fake party," Devi said.
Three Aam Aadmi Party Councillors Join BJP in Delhi
The third councillor who joined the BJP, Gurcharan Kala said, "I belonged to BJP and I will also be with BJP... I have joined the party after getting inspired by the work of PM Modi." Ahead of the Supreme Court hearing on allegations of irregularities in the vote-counting process, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Manoj Sonkar resigned from the post of Chandigarh Mayor on Sunday.
The mayoral elections case is listed before the Supreme Court on February 19.
Earlier on February 5, the Supreme Court came down heavily on the Returning Officer who held the Chandigarh Mayor elections, saying he was "murdering democracy" and ordered the preservation of the entire record of the election process, including ballot papers, videography and other material, through the Registrar General of Punjab and Haryana High Court.
A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said it is obvious that the returning officer had defaced the ballot papers. "Is this the way he conducts the elections? This is a mockery of democracy. This is the murder of democracy. We are appalled. We will not allow democracy to be murdered this way. The man defaces ballots the moment he sees a cross at the bottom. This man should be prosecuted. Is this the behaviour of the returning officer?" SC on Chandigarh Mayor Polls: Supreme Court Slams Returning Officer, Terms Election as ‘Murder of Democracy’.
The top court also issued notice on a petition filed by Aam Aadmi Party's councillor Kuldeep Dhalor, who had lost the mayor election to Bharatiya Janata Party's Manoj Sonkar on January 30. BJP's Sonkar bagged 16 votes against the 12 votes received by Kumar, despite having 20 councillors. The action of rejecting eight votes of the AAP-Congress alliance as invalid had sparked allegations of vote tempering.
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