‘Operation Lotus failed’: Congress slams BJP over Chandigarh mayor polls

Chandigarh: The Congress on Thursday alleged the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) postponed the Chandigarh mayoral elections because its “Operation Lotus failed”. The party also claimed the move shows the BJP can’t accept their defeat.
‘Operation Lotus’ is the moniker used by the Opposition to describe alleged attempts by the BJP to topple governments by engineering defections.
“The ‘Operation Lotus’ has failed in Chandigarh. They (BJP) can sense their defeat. They lost morally when they did not even turn up (to cast vote). We (AAP and Congress) all are here to cast our votes. This shows that the BJP cannot accept their defeat,” said Chandigarh Congress chief H S Lucky.
The mayoral elections, scheduled to be held today, were postponed till further notice on account of the illness of the presiding officer.
AAP leader Raghav Chadha claimed the BJP sent the presiding officer Anil Masih to the hospital.
“BJP has intentionally hospitalised the presiding officer Anil Masih. Earlier they had threatened the MC Secretary. The elections can not be cancelled due to ill health of the presiding officer. We had valid passes to enter the MC building but police are not allowing us to enter. We are moving the High Court to make an appeal to appoint a new presiding officer to hold the elections today,” he told HT.
Also read: Amid AAP-Congress seats talk on LS polls, INDIA bloc breakthrough in Chandigarh
Congress leader Pawan Bansal said the BJP wants to stop the elections.
The Congress and AAP have formed an alliance for the Chandigarh polls. Together, the two parties outnumber the BJP.
In the 35-strong Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, the BJP has 14 councillors. It also has an ex-officio member MP who has voting rights.
The Aam Aadmi Party has 13 councillors and the Congress seven. If these 20 councillors vote per their parties’ political lines, the newly forged alliance can score a major victory. However, since the mayor is elected by the councillors through secret ballots, the possibility of cross-voting cannot be ruled out.
The development comes amid seat sharing talks between the AAP and the Congress for the Lok Sabha elections.
With inputs from PTI