Controversy surrounded Tuesdays Chandigarh mayoral election as opposition parties charged the BJP of manipulating the results. Following accusations of ballot tampering, Presiding Officer Anil Masih, who was in the focus of the protest, justified his actions during the vote count by asserting that members of the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had asked for the replacement of 11 votes because of scratches and spots.The opposition councilors alleged that the Presiding Officer, Anil Masih, had tampered with the ballots to favor a particular candidate.However, the presiding officer Anil Masih has denied any wrongdoing and claims he simply replaced the 11 ballots at the request of the councilors themselves.#WATCH | Presiding Officer for Chandigarh Mayor election, Anil Masih says, ...A total of 36 votes were cast. When we were issuing the ballot papers, a few AAP and Congress Councillors were concerned that the papers had spots and marks - so, they asked me to change around 11… pic.twitter.com/m5Bp9YUy3J— ANI (@ANI) January 30, 2024He stated that the original ballots had marks and spots that could potentially identify the voters, which is a violation of election rules. He replaced the ballots with fresh ones to maintain the secrecy of the vote.It should be mentioned that Kuldeep Singh, the combined candidate of the Congress and AAP, managed to receive 12 votes, while the BJPs nominee for mayor, Manoj Sonkar, received 16 votes. Eight votes were ruled to be void.There was a disturbance in the House following Manojs victory in the Chandigarh mayors race for the BJP. Councilors for the Congress and AAP charged the BJP with electoral malpractice and not conducting the proper elections.On January 24, 2024, the Punjab and Haryana High Court declared that the Chandigarh Mayoral Elections would take place on January 30 and gave the Chandigarh Police full control over security.
