'Black day for democracy': Arvind Kejriwal accusing BJP of cheating in Chandigarh Mayoral elections

Addressing a press conference, Kejriwal, who heads Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), said BJP won the elections fraudulently causing the "death of democracy".

Kejriwal said, "Gandhiji was assassinated on this date and after 76 years, they (BJP) have murdered the democracy. It is a black day for democracy. They did hooliganism openly and it was captured on camera."

"The whole country is seeing how they stole votes. Anyone can win or lose elections but the country should not lose. The issue is that they have won the Chandigarh Mayoral elections with open fraud."

The BJP won 16 of possible 36 votes while eight votes were declared invalid.

AAP, which managed to win 12 votes, has accused Presiding Officer Anil Masih- who is the member of BJP's Minority Cell- of invalidating ballots, reports said.

After the result was announced, the AAP councillors were seen shoving their BJP counterparts, NDTV reported.

Taking a dig at the INDIA bloc, the opposition camp, BJP IT Cell head Amit Malviya posted on X,"The arrogance of I.N.D.I Alliance has been reduced to dust in the Chandigarh Mayoral poll… Agree, with Arvind Kejriwal, that this is what 2024 will look like."

The election result comes just a day after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar quit the INDIA alliance and returned to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and days after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee cleared she will fight alone in her state in the upcoming General Elections.

Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said AAP will go solo in his state in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.