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AAP-Congress challenge election of senior deputy mayor, deputy mayor
BJP’s Kuljeet Sandhu and Rajinder Sharma were declared senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor respectively by 16-0 votes after AAP and Congress boycotted the election, conducted on January 30, minutes after Bharatiya Janata Party’s Manoj Sonkar was declared the mayor.
Amid the controversy surrounding the election of the Chandigarh mayor, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress on Tuesday moved the Punjab and Haryana high court, challenging the election of the senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor as well.
BJP’s Kuljeet Sandhu and Rajinder Sharma were declared senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor respectively by 16-0 votes after AAP and Congress boycotted the election, conducted on January 30, minutes after Bharatiya Janata Party’s Manoj Sonkar was declared the mayor.
For election to the posts of the senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor, the newly elected mayor serves as the presiding officer.
The INDIA bloc councilors had boycotted these elections alleging rigging of mayor’s election and staged a walkout.
On Monday, the apex court directed that the entire election record pertaining to mayoral polls, including ballot papers and videography, be sealed and preserved with the registrar of the Punjab and Haryana high court till the next date of hearing, during which it also summoned the returning officer to be present in court.
AAP-Congress joint candidate Kuldeep Dhalor had moved the apex court after he failed to get relief in the high court in the petition challenging Sonkar’s election on January 30 and hearing was deferred till February 26.
After going through the video of the election proceedings, Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud said to the solicitor general, who was representing the Union territory of Chandigarh: “It is obvious. He has defaced the ballots. This man has to be prosecuted. This is a mockery of democracy. He is murdering democracy. Is this the way an officer has to conduct elections? We are appalled by his conduct.”
The fresh plea in high court by INDIA Bloc candidates demands fresh election not only for the posts of the senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor but also for the mayor’s post.
The petition, seen by HT, also sought directions to the administration and returning officer Anil Masih, for citing reasons behind invalidating eight votes of the Opposition bloc.
“With regards to fresh election for the posts of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor, the plea says, since these elections were conducted by a person whose own election was “illegal”, these elections should also be set aside,” the plea read.
“After witnessing the fraudulent declaration of the election result (mayor’s post) by the presiding officer Anil Masih and seeing no impact of their protest, the 20 councillors (of INDIA Bloc) staged a walkout and the mayor conducted the elections in their absence,” it says
The plea adds the BJP only has 14 councillors in the MC house, which is much less the majority mark. “This is the reason why this election has been mired in controversy from the beginning,” it says adding that the election process was “totally compromised”.
The elections were originally supposed to take place on January 18 as per the notification of Chandigarh administration. However, on that day, Masih reported ill and polls were deferred for February 6. AAP-Congress cried foul over the deferment of elections and approached high court, which directed that polls be held on January 30.
