Chandigarh mayor resigns before SC hearing; 3 AAP councilors quit
What's the story
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s Manoj Sonkar resigned from the post of Chandigarh mayor on Sunday, citing "moral grounds."
To recall, the Chandigarh mayoral elections, held last month, were marred by allegations of vote tampering by the presiding officer.
Sonkar's resignation came a day before the Supreme Court was set to hear the matter.
The move was followed by the resignations of three Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councilors in Chandigarh, who quit the party and joined the BJP on Sunday.
Context
Why does this story matter?
Following the announcement of the Chandigarh mayoral poll results, the AAP and the Congress accused the BJP of cheating.
They also claimed that Presiding Officer Anil Masih was captured "tampering" with ballot papers in a video submitted to the SC.
The BJP has dismissed these allegations.
However, during the initial SC hearing, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said that the court would not allow the "murder of democracy." He ordered that all records of the electoral proceedings be preserved.
Number game
AAP councilors' resignation to help BJP in fresh polls
The shift of three AAP councilors—Neha Musawat, Poonam Devi, and Gurcharan Kala—to the BJP will give the party an edge over the AAP-Congress coalition in the fresh polls after the mayor's resignation.
The BJP had 14 councilors in the 35-member Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, which has now gone up to 17.
It also has the support of one Shiromani Akali Dal councilor and the vote of ex-officio member and BJP's Chandigarh MP Kirron Kher. This brings the party's strength to 19.
Allegations
Councilors coerced to quit: AAP
The AAP now has 10 councilors, while its ally, the Congress, has seven.
Reacting to the councilors' resignations, AAP Chandigarh leader Sunny Ahluwalia said they were coerced into quitting.
"The entire country knows what happened on January 30 and that 20 votes were polled in favor of our candidate," he said.
"Now they have threatened our councilors and made them join. Everyone knows what is happening and how they have threatened them," Ahluwalia added.
AAP's plea
AAP calls for fresh polls
Alleging that the mayoral elections were not conducted in a fair manner, the AAP had earlier moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
The party had demanded that the elections be canceled, and the mayor stopped from assuming office.
It also called for a fresh election under the supervision of a retired HC judge.
After the high court had refused to intervene, the AAP approached the apex court.