BJP dramatically capture Chandigarh Mayor post

The Bharatiya Janta Party's (BJP) Manoj Sonkar dramatically won the Chandigarh mayoral elections today, defeating the Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) Kuldeep Kumar. The BJP was pitted against an alliance between the Congress and AAP. This was the first contest between the newly formed Opposition coalition and the NDA, following Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's sensational switchover to the latter.
Mr Sonkar secured 16 votes, after 8 votes declared invalid, while Mr Kumar garnered 12 votes. The outcome trigged strong protests from AAP and Congress councilors. The BJP, with 14 councillors, managed to outpace AAP, which had 13 councillors, and the Congress with seven. 
As the results were announced, AAP convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal accused the BJP of "cheating" and voiced his dissatisfaction with the electoral process. Mr Kejriwal posted on X, If these people can stoop to this level in a mayoral poll, they can go to any extent in the national elections. This is very worrying."