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Despite high court orders, mayoral elections postponed in Phagwara
The HC had on Friday directed that the elections be held by 4pm on Saturday; fresh date yet to be issued
Despite the Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) orders to elect the mayor and other office-bearers of the Phagwara municipal corporation by 4pm on Saturday, the elections had to be postponed after ruckus in the House over the choice of pro-tem speaker.
After the newly elected councillors were administered the oath of office, divisional commissioner Arun Sekhri named AAP councillor from ward 16, Vicky Krishan Sood as the pro-tem speaker to preside over the elections of mayor, senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor.
But the Opposition parties, including the Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party, and Shiromani Akali Dal raised objections, demanding that someone else be appointed as the presiding officer.
“This led to ruckus in the House following which, the authorities concerned left the meeting haphazardly before postponing the event,” said Congress MLA from Phagwara, Balwinder Singh Dhaliwal.
“This is a cruel joke on democracy as despite having the majority in the House, the Congress has been stopped from getting its councillors elected to the posts of mayor and other office-bearers,” he said.
Dhaliwal added that the Congress will move a fresh plea in the HC.
On Friday, the HC had directed the authorities to hold the mayoral elections by 4pm on Saturday, and videograph the whole proceedings to ensure transparency.
On HC instructions, the Kapurthala senior superintendent of police had beefed up security at the meeting venue to ensure law and order.
Fresh date for the elections is yet to be notified.
Congress has 29 votes
To secure the posts of the mayor, senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor, a party needs at least 26 votes in the 50-member House, where the Phagwara MLA also has a vote as the ex-officio member, effectively taking the number of voting members to 51.
The Congress currently has 29 votes – 21 own councillors, three of the BSP, four Independents and the party MLA.
However, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which has won only 12 seats, has not given up hope. As per reports, the AAP leadership is holding meetings with councillors of rival parties with the hope of touching the magical figure.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) have four councillors each while the count of Independents in the House is six.
FIRs against husbands of 3 Congress councillors
Meanwhile, the husbands of three Congress councillors were booked in cheating cases. The FIR registered on Friday night stated Gurjit Pal Singh Walia, husband of Congress councillor from ward 15 Paramjit Kaur Walia, and Mukesh Kumar Bhatia, husband of councillor from Ward 7, Pinky Bhatia were running illegal immigration businesses as they did not have requisite licences. Besides, they were allegedly duping gullible youngsters on the pretext of sending them abroad.
In another case, Dhiraj Ghai, husband of municipal councillor from ward 5 Deepmala, was booked under Sections 303 (theft) and 317 (cheating) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. Ghai owns a junkyard and is accused of purchasing stolen items from thieves and robbers.
Setback for Congress in Jalandhar’s Bhogpur
After winning 8 out of total 13 seats in Bhogpur municipal council, the Congress has faced a major setback as six of its councillors joined the AAP in the presence of state unit president Aman Arora and Jalandhar central MLA Raman Arora. The AAP had won five seats in the elections but now its strength has rised to 11 seats.
