The much-awaited Chandigarh mayor election was deferred indefinitely at the eleventh hour on Thursday as the presiding officer, Anil Masih, took ill, triggering protests by the Aam Aadmi Party and Congress councillors.
The announcement of deferring the elections was made at 10.30am just as councillors from the opposition AAP and Congress assembled to participate in the election that was to begin at 11am at the municipal corporation (MC) office in Sector 17, Chandigarh.
Also read: ‘Operation Lotus failed’: Congress slams BJP over Chandigarh mayor polls
BJP councillors were conspicuous by their absence. Outgoing mayor Anup Gupta of the BJP arrived at 11.45am and said that he had also got to know of the deferment at 10.30am.
Oppn cries foul
The mayoral elections are the first test of the BJP vs INDIA bloc that led to the AAP-Congress tie-up ahead of the general election this summer.
{{/usCountry}}The mayoral elections are the first test of the BJP vs INDIA bloc that led to the AAP-Congress tie-up ahead of the general election this summer.
{{/usCountry}}After the elections to the 35-member House were announced last week, councillor Lakhbir Singh Billu had left the AAP and joined the BJP. On the other hand, councillor Gurcharanjit Singh Kala dumped the BJP and joined the AAP. With this, the AAP has 13 members, Congress seven, the BJP 15 votes, comprising 14 councillors and one vote of the member of Parliament, while the lone Shiromani Akali Dal councillor has already announced that his vote will go to none of the above (NOTA).
“The BJP has intentionally got Masih, a nominated councillor with BJP links, hospitalised. Earlier, the party had threatened the MC secretary. The elections cannot 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 in. We are moving the Punjab and Haryana high court to appeal for appointing a new presiding officer to hold the elections today,” AAP MP Raghav Chadha said after joining the protesters.
Former Chandigarh MP and Congress leader Pawan Bansal said, “The BJP was not ready to face defeat so they intentionally postponed the elections. If the BJP would have believed in democracy, it would have requested the deputy commissioner (DC) to change the presiding officer. This is the end of democracy. We will now move to court.”
Who is Masih?
In the order that landed in the councillors’ WhatsApp group at 10.30am, Isha Kamboj, the joint commissioner, MC, stated that presiding officer Anil Masih, one of the nominated councillors, had reported ill. “It is informed that a telephonic message has been received regarding 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. It is requested not to reach the MC office till further orders,” the order read.
According to MC rules, one of the nominated councillors is appointed as presiding officer for the mayor’s election after which polling for senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor are conducted.
When he was nominated as a councillor in October 2022, Masih was the BJP’s general secretary, minority morcha. The Congress and the AAP allege that Masih reported ill on BJP’s instructions as the party’s defeat was imminent.
Close contest
In the last two mayoral elections, the Congress and the SAD had boycotted the poll and only the AAP contested against BJP. In the 2021 MC elections, the AAP had bagged 14 seats, BJP 12, Congress eight and the SAD one seat.
The number of BJP votes in the House has gone up to 14 as Harpreet Kaur Babla, the wife of former Chandigarh Congress vice-president, Devinder Babla, had joined the BJP. Councillor Gurcharanjit Singh Kala had also left the Congress to join the BJP.
Both in 2022 and 2023, the BJP candidate won by just one vote after a vote was declared invalid due to various reasons.
In 2023, Taruna Mehta had joined the Congress after leaving the AAP.