Chandigarh mayor election live: ‘BJP knew’, AAP-Congress alleges as polls postpone

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. Read more

AAP Rajya Sabha MP reached the Chandigarh municipal corporation office amid the postponement of the mayoral polls, in view of the ill health of nominated presiding officer Anil Masih.

“BJP has intentionally hospitalised the presiding officer Anil Masih. Earlier, they had threatened the municipal corporation secretary. The elections can not be cancelled due to the ill health of the presiding officer. We had valid passes to enter the MC building but the police are not allowing us to enter. We are moving to the High Court to make an appeal to appoint a new presiding officer to hold the elections today," the AAP MP said.

“BJP was not ready to face defeat and they intentionally postponed the elections. If BJP would have believed in democracy, they would have requested DC to change the presiding officer. This is end of democracy. We will now move to court,” former MP and senior Congress leader Pawan Bansal said after the Chandigarh mayoral election was postponed.

AAP and Congress councillors are protesting outside the municipal corporation office, alleging the BJP intentionally circulating a message about the deferment of mayoral elections.

The message, sent out to councillors by the deputy commissioner, reads, “It is informed that a telephonic message has been received regarding the ill health of Sh Anil Masih, who has been nominated as Presiding authority for the meeting scheduled on 18.1.24 for the post of mayor u/60 (a) read with Regulation 6(1) of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation(Procedure and Conduct of Business) Regulation 1996. Given the above, it is requested that you do not reach the municipal corporation office until further orders are received.”

Security tightened outside the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation office ahead of the election, which will begin at 11 am.

"600 personnel of the Chandigarh Police have been deployed. Besides, the Rapid Action Force of the CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) has also been deployed. All preparations have been made to maintain law and order here," Kanwardeep Kaur, Senior Superintendent of Police, Chandigarh, said.

In the 35-seat Chandigarh municipal corporation, the BJP has 14 councillors, with ex-officio MP Kirron Kher also having voting rights in the local body. The AAP has 13 councillors, and the Congress has seven. The Shiromani Akali Dal has one councillor in the house.

Leader of opposition in the Punjab assembly and Congress leader Pratap Singh Bajwa on Wednesday equated chief minister Bhagwant Mann and his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal with Adolf Hitler and said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders should remove pictures of BR Ambedkar and Bhagat Singh from their offices and put up the picture of the former German dictator.

Bajwa's remarks came hours before both allies of the major Opposition coalition, in a rare show of unity at the local level, teamed up in what is seen as the ‘first match of BJP vs INDIA (bloc)’ ahead of the Chandigarh mayoral election. Read more

As part of the arrangement, the AAP has kept the mayoral post and fielded Kuldeep Dhalor in the fray. Congress' Gurpreet Singh Gabi and Nirmala Devi will contest for the senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor posts.

The BJP has nominated Major Sonkar for mayor, Kuljeet Sandhu for senior deputy mayor and Rajinder Sharma for the deputy mayor posts.

A scuffle broke out between BJP and Congress-AAP members at the Chandigarh municipal corporation on Wednesday after Congress councillor Jasbir Singh Bunty reached the office to withdraw his nomination papers for contesting the mayoral post. The Congress alleged the BJP of illegally detaining Bunty and demanded “release” of the councillor. The Party president filed a petition to the Haryana and Punjab high court, which was taken up for a special midnight hearing. The court sought a report from Chandigarh Police on the matter.

The Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have officially joined hands to inflict defeat on the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) in the Chandigarh mayoral poll today.

Rajya Sabha MP from the Aam Aadmi Party Raghav Chadha on Wednesday said he is confident that the INDIA bloc will sweep the Chandigarh mayoral polls and that the victory will play as a curtain raiser for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.