Chandigarh mayoral poll: HC holds midnight hearing on Congress plea

Punjab and Haryana high court bench of justice Alok Jain seeks Chandigarh Police report on allegations of the Congress of the illegal detention of its councillor, Jasbir Singh Bunty on the eve of high-stakes mayoral battle

In a midnight hearing, the Punjab and Haryana high court sought a report from Chandigarh Police on allegations of the Congress of the illegal detention of its councillor, Jasbir Singh Bunty, in the run-up to the high-stakes mayoral elections to be held on Thursday.

Police taking Congress councillor Jasbir Singh Bunty (centre) from the Chandigarh municipal corporation office in Sector 17 to his house after the scuffle with BJP workers on Tuesday night. (Keshav Singh/HT)

The order was passed by the high court bench of justice Alok Jain at a special hearing at his residence in Sector 8, Chandigarh, at 12.15am on Wednesday.

In the petition, Harmohinder Singh Lucky, the Chandigarh Congress president, cited the scuffle outside the municipal corporation office on Tuesday between BJP workers and activists of his party and the Aam Aadmi Party. Lucky claimed the BJP workers tried to take away Bunty and he was not being allowed to move freely thereafter.

The incident occurred when Bunty, who with other councillors is putting up at a resort in Punjab, had come to withdraw his nomination as the mayoral candidate of the Congress on Tuesday afternoon after an alliance with the AAP.

At 10.15pm, legal teams of the Congress and the AAP started working on the issue and a mentioning was made before the registrar general of Punjab and Haryana high court, seeking a special hearing. The petition was filed around 11pm and taken up at the house of Justice Alok Jain at 11.30pm with lawyers Ferry Sofat, Kartik Sharma and Karambir Singh appearing with Chandigarh Congress chief.

The plea sought the “release” of Bunty. “The police authorities are not letting the ‘detenue’ move freely, which is violation of his fundamental rights,” it was stated also showing a video clip from Bunty in which he claimed that he wanted to go out of his hotel but was not being allowed by the police.

Fixing the hearing for 5pm on Wednesday, the court ordered that the UT’s additional public prosecutor would look into it and file a report.

Earlier, Manish Bansal, the public prosecutor and Deepinder Brar, the additional public prosecutor, had claimed before the judge that there is no illegal detention of Bunty. However, he sought time for complete instructions so that facts could be verified.

The BJP has been winning the mayoral election for the past two years. This time, following the INDIA tie-up between the AAP and the Congress at the national level, the two parties have 20 votes against 15 of the BJP in the 35-member House. All eyes are on the mayoral contest as it takes place months ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.