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Chandigarh mayoral polls: Presiding officer’s meeting with BJP councillors before voting triggers row
Though the Punjab and Haryana high court had directed the UT administration to hold the Chandigarh mayoral polls at 10 am, DC Vinay Pratap Singh, joint commissioner Isha Kamboj and presiding officer Anil Masih had entered the assembly hall at 10:40 am, causing a delay in the start of the polls. The deputy commissioner, with powers of divisional commissioners, is the prescribed authority on conduct of mayoral polls in Chandigarh.
A meeting held minutes before the mayoral elections started, ostensibly attended by the deputy commissioner, municipal joint commissioner, presiding officer and some Bharatiya Janata Party councillors, was what the INDIA bloc cited while terming Tuesday’s events fishy.
Though the Punjab and Haryana high court had directed the UT administration to hold the Chandigarh mayoral polls at 10 am, DC Vinay Pratap Singh, joint commissioner Isha Kamboj and presiding officer Anil Masih had entered the assembly hall at 10:40 am, causing a delay in the start of the polls. The deputy commissioner, with powers of divisional commissioners, is the prescribed authority on conduct of mayoral polls in Chandigarh.
Interestingly, a few BJP councillors—including mayoral candidate Manoj Sonkar, former mayor Anup Gupta, Saurabh Joshi, Maheshinder Singh Sidhu, Lakhbir Singh Billu, Jasmanpreet Singh—had entered the hall at 10:35 am, even when the scheduled time was a way before.
Only AAP and Congress councillors had reached before the scheduled time whereas MP Kirron Kher had entered the Hall at 10:04 am. Other BJP councillors had started arriving after 10:10 am.
But before the DC, joint commissioner and presiding officer entered the election hall, they were conducting a meeting in the mayor’s office where a few BJP councillors were also allegedly present.
In the high court too, AAP’s mayoral candidate questioned the delay in start of the voting.
“Though councillors were sitting in assembly hall at 10 am sharp, the election procedure was delayed. As per the rule, the elections start on the scheduled time even if some councillors don’t reach by then. The officers, Masih and BJP councillors were conducting a meeting for half-an-hour only to discuss how to tamper the polled votes. On contrary, if it was AAP or Congress councillors who had come late, the officers would have started the polls on time,” said Congress councillor Gupreet Singh Gabi.
AAP councillor Kuldeep Dhalor added, “Before polls when we were cautiously checking ballot papers, MP Kirron Kher said that there is no need to check papers as BJP have ‘some other game plan’. They were making plans on how to make votes invalid as they were sure that no-cross voting would happen.”
Officers’ role under cloud
The role of deputy commissioner and joint commissioner Isha Kamboj is also being criticised by parties.
As per the poll precedent, any votes considered invalid are shown to the counting agents in the presence of the deputy commissioner, along with a proper reason for invalidation but the deputy commissioner had left the hall during polling of votes and eight votes were subsequently declared invalid in his absence, without specifying any reason.
Though joint commissioner Isha Kamboj was sitting in the Hall during the counting of votes, she did not even ask Masih to disclose the reason for the votes being declared invalid.
Earlier too, the opposition had cried foul over the DC replacing joint commissioner Gurinder Singh Sodhi, who is also the municipal secretary, with an HCS officer Isha Kamboj as the ‘authority to conduct elections’. The Opposition had said that Sodhi, a PCS officer, was replaced with Haryana-based officer as it is a BJP ruling state.
Joint commissioner Isha Kamboj didn’t respond to repeated calls by this reporter.
When contacted, the DC said, “The matter is subjudice before the HC. We would not be able to make any generalised statements on the issue till matter is finally decided. I am not in the know of any private discussion, if anything happened between any of the councillors of any party.”
AAP- Cong file police plaint against presiding officer
Meanwhile, the AAP and Congress activists held a protest and submitted a complaint to the police, demanding action against presiding officer Anil Masih, who they claimed had tampered with ballot papers during the election that led to the declaration of eight votes as invalid.
The INDIA bloc councillors, along with their supporters, also protested and raised anti-BJP slogans outside the Sector 17 police station. Since police personnel had put up barricades, a scuffle broke out when the councillors tried to force their way into the police station.
AAP councillor Kuldeep Dhalor, who was the mayoral candidate from INDIA bloc and was defeated by BJP’s Manoj Sonkar on Tuesday, said, “The nominated councillor and BJP office-bearer, Anil Masih, had deliberately tampered with the votes by marking the ballot papers with a pen. No rules were followed on Tuesday. We demand a criminal case against Masih and his arrest. Videos are proof he tampered with the votes.”
Former MP and Chandigarh Congress leader Pawan Kumar Bansal said: “If a decision goes against them (the BJP), they do everything they can to turn things around in their favour. We have lodged a complaint in the police station.”
The AAP Chandigarh co-in-charge Dr Sunny Ahluwalia met Chandigarh SSP and the SHO of Sector-17 police station to register a case against the presiding officer and handed them videos and other objectionable materials related to rigging in the mayor elections.
Chandigarh Youth Congress president Manoj Lubana held a protest outside the municipal corporation office against the “undemocratic mayoral elections”. Twelve Youth Congress activists were detained and taken to the Sector 11 police station. The leaders were later released.
New mayor takes charge
Amid the melee, the new mayor Manoj Sonkar took charge on Wednesday. On first day in office, he said he will revive nine special sub-committees and three statutory committees of the Municipal Corporation that could not be formed in the previous two mayors’ term.
“Today I had discussions with our BJP President Jatinder Pal Malhotra on the same issue. He was also in favour of forming the committees. My endeavour would be to soon start constituting all the panels,” said Sonkar.
“Like the past two BJP mayors, I will work on bio-remediation of legacy waste at Dadumajra landfill and setting up of new plants. I will make sure the House is run smoothly, as all councillors are equal for me,” he said.
