Anil Masih’s name was removed from the Bharatiya Janata Party’s minority cell in Chandigarh. Masih, the presiding officer, has drawn criticism for supposedly rigging the ballots. Only a few days had passed since the Supreme Court ruled that democracy would not be allowed to be destroyed and that Masih, the designated council member, must appear before the court on February 19. Late on Sunday night, the BJP made public the revised list of office-bearers.
Masih has served as the Chandigarh BJP’s minority cell’s general secretary since 2021. The opposition had been accusing Masih of defacing the voting papers at the BJP’s request, a claim the party denied. Masih’s name is not on the newly released list of office-bearers that the city BJP president announced. He was designated as a nominated councillor in the general house of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation in 2022, representing the BJP’s minority cell.
The BJP’s newly formed minority cell has Istekhar Ahmed as its general secretary. “Any nominated councillor or councillor will not be a member of the cells or BJP units,” BJP spokesperson Sanjeev Rana said. “It was decided by the party.” That clarifies the cause, therefore. Otherwise, it is independent of any other issue.
Following the victory of BJP mayoral candidate Manoj Sonkar on January 30, allegations were made against the presiding officer, Masih, alleging that he had tampered with eight ballot papers, or votes that had been deemed invalid.
Due to Masih’s illness, the elections that were scheduled for January 18 were rescheduled for January 30. It was supposedly because of back pain that Gurinder Sodhi, the municipal secretary, had also taken a leave of absence two days prior to the polls on January 18.