Chandigarh Archives - Lokmarg

Threatened Or Bought: Chandigarh AAP Prez As AAP Councillors Join BJP

By LokMarg 19th February 2024

After Three Aam Aadmi Party Chandigarh councillors joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in the national capital on Sunday evening Chandigarh AAP President Sunny Singh Ahluwalia alleged that they had been threatened or brought by the BJP.

“They launched ‘Operation Lotus’. The councillors who were protesting against them just three days ago, fighting for democracy, were either threatened or brought by the BJP and the same is going on inside the country,” Sunny Singh Ahluwalia said.

The three Aam Aadmi Party Chandigarh councillors who joined BJP are Punam Devi, Neha Musawat, and Gurcharan Kala in the presence of party National General Secretary Vinod Tawde, in Delhi.

Ahead of the Supreme Court hearing on allegations of irregularities in the vote-counting process, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Manoj Sonkar resigned from the post of Chandigarh Mayor on Sunday.

Reacting on BJP’s resignation from the Mayor post, party President of Chandigarh Jatinder Pal Malhotra said, “The mayor resigned on Sunday afternoon. Aam Aadmi Party and Congress propaganda is out in the open. They are abusing each other in the rest of the country and they are making an alliance in Chandigarh.”

“The Congress workers did not want a Congress Mayor, which is why they cross-voted… To stop AAP’s propaganda, we have resigned… More workers and the councillors of the AAP and Congress will join the BJP soon, he added.

The mayoral elections case is listed before the Supreme Court on February 19.

Earlier on February 5, the Supreme Court came down heavily on the Returning Officer who held the Chandigarh Mayor elections, saying he was “murdering democracy” and ordered the preservation of the entire record of the election process, including ballot papers, videography and other material, through the Registrar General of Punjab and Haryana High Court.

A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said it is obvious that the returning officer had defaced the ballot papers.

“Is this the way he conducts the elections? This is a mockery of democracy. This is the murder of democracy. We are appalled. We will not allow democracy to be murdered this way. The man defaces ballots the moment he sees a cross at the bottom. This man should be prosecuted. Is this the behaviour of the returning officer?,” said the court. (ANI)

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SC Raps Civic Poll Officer Who Held Chandigarh Mayor Elections

By LokMarg 5th February 2024

The Supreme Court on Monday slammed the civic poll officer who held the Chandigarh Mayor elections and said that it is obvious that the Returning Officer has “defaced” the ballot papers.

“Is this the way he conducts the elections? This is a mockery of democracy. This is a murder of democracy. We are appalled. This man should be prosecuted. Is this the behaviour of the Returning Officer?” Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said.

The top Court further ordered the preservation of an entire record of the election process including ballot papers, videography and other material through the Registrar General of Punjab and Haryana High Court.

SC directed that the ensuing meeting of the Chandigarh Corporation shall be deferred till the next date of hearing.

Kuldeep Kumar, who lost Chandigarh mayoral election, has approached the apex court against High Court refusal’s to grant an immediate stay on election result in which Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate was declared the Mayor.

The BJP’s Manoj Sonkar was declared the Mayor of Chandigarh on January 30 after he won the mayoral polls with 16 votes against the 12 votes bagged by Congress-AAP candidate Kuldeep Tita. Eight votes were declared invalid.

Eight votes, which were declared invalid in the Chandigarh Mayoral polls, have led opposition leaders to raise allegations of rigging with Congress and AAP, attacking the BJP-led central government over the issue. (ANI)

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Chandigarh Mayor Election: BJP’s Manoj Sonkar Wins

By LokMarg 30th January 2024

The Bharatiya Janta Party’s (BJP) Manoj Sonkar won the Chandigarh mayoral elections on Tuesday, the first election battle against the INDIA bloc by defeating the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Kuldeep Kumar.

Meanwhile, BJP secured 16 votes for its mayor candidate Manoj Sonkar and Kuldeep Singh, the joint candidate of Congress and AAP was able to manage 12 votes. 8 votes were declared invalid.

After BJP’s Manoj won the Chandigarh mayor election, a ruckus broke out in the House. Congress and AAP councillors accused the BJP of cheating and not following the due electoral process

Reacted to the allegations of AAP, newly-elected Chandigarh Mayor Manoj Sonkar said that levelling allegations is the AAP-Congress job.

“Wherever they don’t have their way, they level allegations…Everything is on camera. But when they couldn’t digest their defeat, they created this atmosphere and started blaming us,” Sonkar said.

He further alleged that AAP-Congress leaders started tearing ballot papers and jostling people around after the name of the Mayor was announced.

“They started tearing ballot papers and jostling people around after the name of the Mayor was announced…When they can’t run a small city, how can they run a state?…Let them do press conference, we are not wrong. We have won the election,” he added.

The polls were conducted today after the presiding officer fell ill on the initial date, January 8 of holding the polls.

The fresh scheduling of the elections, which AAP MP Raghav Chadha described as the first direct electoral contest between the BJP and the Opposition bloc–INDIA–happened on the order of the Punjab-Haryana High Court.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on January 24, 2024, announced the decision to hold the Chandigarh Mayoral Elections on January 30 and also vested the responsibility for security in the Chandigarh Police. (ANI)

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Black Day For Democracy: Kejriwal On C’garh Mayor Election

By LokMarg 30th January 2024

Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday alleged the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) indulged in “hooliganism” during the Chandigarh mayoral elections and called the polls a “black day for democracy.”

Addressing a press conference, Delhi CM voiced concerns about the integrity of the democratic process and said the entire country saw what happened in the Chandigarh mayoral polls.

“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 is captured on camera. The whole country is seeing how they stole votes… Anyone can win or lose elections, the country should not lose… The issue is that they have won the Chandigarh Mayoral elections with open fraud,” Kejriwal said.

AAP chief further questioned what kind of elections were held today.

“The presiding officer (appointed by BJP), did not let any agent participate in the counting (of the mayoral election’s votes) and continued the counting on his own. He declared some of our votes invalid and some as valid, which can clearly be seen in the video. Out of 36, they (BJP) had 16 votes, and we (AAP-Congress) had 20. From those 20, they declared 8 invalid, meaning 25 per cent of votes were declared invalid. What kind of election is this?” he added.

He further said that the BJP is targeting opposition leaders, breaking parties and toppling governments.

“This time under INDIA Alliance, Congress and AAP came together… Their (BJP) intention had been maligned since the beginning… They tried to buy ours and Congress’ councillors. They tried to scare them like they do all over the country… But fortunately, not even one councillor broke down,” AAP chief said.

This came after the BJP swept the Chandigarh mayoral polls, winning all three posts including of mayor, and defeating the Congress-AAP alliance.

Meanwhile, BJP secured 16 votes for its mayor candidate Manoj Sonkar and Kuldeep Singh, the joint candidate of Congress and AAP was able to manage 12 votes. 8 votes were declared invalid.

After BJP’s Manoj won the Chandigarh mayor election, a ruckus broke out in the House. Congress and AAP councillors accused the BJP of cheating and not following the due electoral process

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North India Reels Under Cold Wave, Min Temp Between 7 And 12°C

By LokMarg 30th December 2023

As the icy chill prevailed in the North Indian belt, the India Metrological Department (IMD) on Saturday recorded minimum temperatures in the range of 7-10°C over most parts of Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, UP and north Rajasthan.

The minimum temperatures over most parts of Delhi, south Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh also hovered between 7 and 10°C on Saturday morning, according to the national weather forecasting agency.

A bitter cold continues to hold vast swathes of North India in a tight embrace, sending shivers down spines and shrouding cities in dense fog.

Residents and locals have been pictured huddling around bonfires for warmth, their breath puffing into the frosty air as temperatures plummet to bone-chilling levels.

The cities up north, including Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh, Jaipur and the national capital reeled under a cold wave and dense fog on Saturday morning.

Significantly, a thick layer fog over Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, north Rajasthan, and north Madhya Pradesh at 8.30 am was captured in a satellite image by the India Metrological Department (IMD).

The Met department warned that “dense to very dense fog conditions are likely to continue in many places in Uttar Pradesh, north Rajasthan and Bihar on December 31 morning”.

Foggy conditions are also likely in isolated pockets of Jammu-Kashmir-Ladakh-Gilgit-Baltistan-Muzaffarabad, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand from December 30 to January 2; Jharkhand on 30th; Odisha, Assam & Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram & Tripura on Saturday and Sunday, the Met office predicted.

Passengers travelling to and from the national capital also faced difficulties due to the foggy weather conditions, as several flights and trains were delayed and diverted due to low visibility.

According to sources, around 80 flights were reported to be delayed due to weather conditions at Delhi’s IGI Airport till 8.30 am on Saturday. (ANI)

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Long Queue Outside RBI Chandigarh To Deposit ₹2,000 Notes

By LokMarg 3rd November 2023

A long queue was seen outside the RBI’s regional office in Chandigarh, with people coming from far and wide from Himachal Haryana and Punjab to exchange their Rs 2000 notes.

After commercial banks stopped accepting Rs 2000 banknotes, people have now started lining up in 19 offices of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to exchange their high-denomination notes.

The last day for the public to avail of exchange or to deposit high-value Rs 2000 banknotes at the banks was Saturday (October 7).

As per the latest Reserve Bank of India data, only about Rs 10,000 crore (or less than 3 per cent) of the currency notes remained in circulation. This essentially meant over 97 per cent of the total value of Rs 2,000 banknotes were back in the banking system.

The total value of Rs 2000 banknotes in circulation was Rs 3.56 lakh crore at the close of business on May 19, 2023 – the date on which RBI decided to withdraw the banknote.

The window for deposit and or exchange of the Rs 2,000 banknotes continues to be available at the 19 issue offices of RBI.

Those 19 RBI Issue Offices are in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Belapur, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jammu, Kanpur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, New Delhi, Patna and Thiruvananthapuram.

Members of the public are also requested to avail the facility of sending the Rs 2,000 banknotes through post offices of India Post.

September 30 was initially decided as the last date for the purpose of completing the exchange and deposit exercise in a time-bound manner and to provide adequate time to the public. People were requested to utilise the month of September to deposit or exchange their Rs 2000 banknotes to avoid any rush at the last moment.

On September 30, RBI, based on a review, decided to extend the arrangement for deposit and exchange till October 7, 2023.

The Rs 2000 denomination banknote was introduced in November 2016, primarily to meet the currency requirement of the economy in an expeditious manner after the withdrawal of the legal tender status of all Rs 500 and Rs 1000 banknotes in circulation at that time.

The objective of introducing Rs 2000 banknotes was met once banknotes in other denominations became available in adequate quantities. Therefore, the printing of Rs 2000 banknotes was stopped in 2018-19. (ANI)

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Looking Forward To Bringing Miss Universe Crown India: Shweta Sharda

By LokMarg 6th September 2023

Miss Diva Universe 2023 Shweta Sharda is doing her best to bring back the Miss Universe Crown to India.

Harnaaz Kaur Sandhu was crowned Miss Universe 2021, and now Shweta wants to emulate this success.

As she returned to her hometown Chandigarh, she spoke to the media and said, “A tremendous sense of satisfaction and excitement comes from winning the Miss Diva India pageant. I’ve been dreaming about this moment for so long, and seeing it come true is simply beyond words. I am incredibly grateful and eager for the journey that lies ahead, and I’m looking forward to making my nation and my family proud by bringing the Miss Universe Crown back to India.”

She gave the entire credit to her mother for her achievement and said, “She is the strongest woman I know. Is khitaan ki asli hakdar vo hai. I am here because of my mother. She sacrificed a lot for our comfort. My parents got separated when I was 12, and since then, she has done everything for me and my brother. She worked so hard so that we get all the comforts of life. Whenever I get tired, she becomes my motivation.”

Dance is her passion and she is a self-taught dancer. At the age of 16, she moved to Mumbai to fulfil her dreams. “I came to Mumbai to fulfil my dreams, though it was not easy but I knew there were a lot of opportunities in this city and I utilized them and worked hard, this is the reason I am sitting here now.”

Sharing her love for dance, she said, “Dancing gives me happiness. I feel like with dance I get solutions to most of the problems in life. I am a self-taught dancer but if you ask me to perform in any style I will do it. I am thankful to God for this talent. It helped me a lot.”

She has featured in several dance shows including ‘DID’, ‘Dance Deewane’ and ‘ Jhalak Dikhlaja’.

“Madhuri Dixit has been my inspiration since childhood when it comes to dancing and I have seen her performing since childhood. On my second dance reality show, where she was a judge, I taught her dance moves. I can never forget teaching dance to Bollywood diva.” (ANI)

C’garh: B’wood Actors Arrive For Celebrity Cricket League

By LokMarg 17th February 2023

Bollywood actor Riteish Deshmukh has said that for the first time, the matches of Celebrity Cricket League are going to be held in Raipur and “we are very much excited about the matches”

Exhorting the public to register their presence in the event, the actor while speaking to media persons at the airport here on Friday said that matches are going to be great and people should come to cheer for us.
“Everyone loves cricket and for the first time we actors come here for this game. I hope people will enjoy this new side of their favourite artists,” said Bollywood actor Aftab Shivdasani.

“We will be very happy if we get support from people,” he said, adding that a better team will win.

As many as four matches of Celebrity Cricket League will be played at Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh Cricket Stadium from February 18-19. The matches will feature the participation of actors including Sohail Khan, Suniel Shetty, Riteish Deshmukh, Sonu Sood, Manoj Tiwari, Ravi Kishan, Nirahua and others.

First match of the cricketing event will be played between Telugu Warriors and Kerala Strikers on February 18 at 2:30 pm while in the second match, Chennai Rhinos will face Karnataka Bulldozers at 7 pm.

On February 19, the first match will be played between Bengal Tiger Vs Bhojpuri Dabanggs while the second match will be played between Mumbai Heroes and Punjab De Sher.

For the first time, Celebrity Cricket League will be held in Chhattisgarh and preparation for this is ongoing at war footing speed, said owner of Bhojpuri Dabanggs Anand Bihari, elaborating that four matches will be played here.

The cricketing event will provide an opportunity for the people here to have a glimpse of their favourite actors, said Bihari, adding that the matches will be very interesting and entertaining.

Bihari further informed that Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh Cricket Stadium has been formed as the home ground of Bhojpuri Dabanggs. Artists of film industries representing different languages are playing this tournament by forming eight teams. The team of Bhojpuri Dabanggs is composed of Manoj Tiwari, Ravi Kishan and Dinesh Lal Yadav while the brand ambassadors are Neelam, Mahima and Amrapali. (ANI)

BJP Wins Chandigarh Mayoral Poll By 1 Vote

By LokMarg 17th January 2023

The Bharatiya Janata Party won the Chandigarh mayoral poll by a margin of 1 vote as it got a total of 15 votes while the AAP secured 14 votes.

BJP candidate Anup Gupta will become Chandigarh’s new mayor.
Congress and SAD abstained from voting.

Voting for the Chandigarh mayoral election began at 11 am on Tuesday in the Assembly hall of the municipal corporation as the BJP and AAP locked horns for the key post.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have 14 councillors each.

This time the BJP had declared Anup Gupta as its candidate for mayor, while the Aam Aadmi Party declared Jasveer Singh Laddi as its candidate.

Last time too, there was a lot of debate between the Aam Aadmi Party and the BJP regarding the mayoral election, but Sarabjit Kaur of the BJP was elected mayor by a margin of one vote.

“Member of Parliament from Chandigarh, Kirron Kher is also entitled to vote in this election. If both parties get equal votes, then Kirron Kher’s vote can prove to be decisive for BJP, Shiromani Akali Dal also has a councillor and has one vote,” said AAP Chandigarh president Prem Garg. (ANI)

Delhi Experienced Third Worst Cold Spell In 23 Years: IMD

By LokMarg 10th January 2023

India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Tuesday said that Delhi experienced the third worst cold spell in the last 23 years and also gave a second cold spell warning from January 14.

Talking to ANI, RK Jenamani, Scientist, IMD said that Delhi experienced a cold wave right from January 3-9 which is almost 5 days.
“During these five days, the temperature was around two to four degrees. As per the data available with us, this was the third worst cold spell in 23 years. From the year 2000 to the year 2023, we find that the 3-9 Jan cold spell was the third worst cold spell in the last 23 years,” he said.

A cold spell means the number of days we experienced which is in the range of 5 to 6 days. A similar situation was there in the year 2006 when we had the lowest temperature of 1.9 degrees Celsius. In 2013 also, we had a similar cold spell, and January 3-9 was the third worst cold spell in the last 23 years.

IMD has also predicted rain, drizzle, and snowfall on January 12, and a second spell of cold spell on January 14.

Jenamani said that there will be light rain or drizzle in states like Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Western UP, and North Rajasthan.

“For the Himalayan states like Jammu and Kashmir mainly Kashmir, we expect heavy rain or snow on Jan 12. We expect rain or snowfall in Himachal and Uttarakhand between January 11-14,” he said.

He said that we are also giving a second cold spell warning from January 14th.

“There will be fresh cold spells over northwestern and Punjab. We have not confirmed but we are reviewing whether the daily temperature will further come down to three degrees or not. Western Disturbance is very active and there are chances that there might be a cold spell from Jan 14,” he said.

Jenamani further said that there will be clouding and fresh moisture pertaining to the Western disturbance.

“The Western disturbance is expected to hit over the western Himalayan region and also plane area during 11 to 14th Jan. It will lead to clouding and fresh moisture also. Because of the windy condition, the dense fog condition will improve further. There was dense fog at the Delhi airport in the past 24 hours. But in the main city, it was relatively lesser fog,” he said.

He further said that although the condition is improving, the worst condition persists over Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

“So far, the condition is improving, but Bihar and Uttar Pradesh remain in the worst condition,” he said. (ANI)