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HC seeks Chandigarh administration’s response on plea challenging election of deputy, senior deputy mayor
The fresh plea by INDIA bloc candidates demands fresh election not only for Chandigarh’s senior deputy and deputy mayor, but also for the mayor, whose election is marred by rigging allegations
The Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) on Friday sought response from the UT administration on the plea challenging the election of the municipal corporation’s (MC) senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor.
Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Kuljeet Sandhu and Rajinder Sharma were declared senior deputy and deputy mayor respectively by 16-0 vote margin after the Aam Aadmi Party and Congress — who were contesting the polls together under the INDIA bloc boycotted the election conducted on January 30 — minutes after the saffron party’s Manoj Sonkar was declared mayor.
The newly elected mayor serves as the presiding officer for the election to the posts of senior deputy and deputy mayor. INDIA bloc councillors, however, staged a walkout alleging rigging of mayor’s election and
The HC bench of justice Sudhir Singh was acting on the plea from Gurpreet Singh, the INDIA bloc candidate, and has kept the matter for February 26, when it takes up the plea challenging election of the mayor.
The fresh plea in HC by INDIA bloc candidates demands fresh election not only for the posts of the senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor but also for the mayor’s post.
The petition also sought directions to the administration and returning officer Anil Masih, for citing reasons behind invalidating eight votes of the Opposition bloc.
With regards to fresh elections for the posts of senior deputy and deputy mayor, the plea says these elections were conducted by a person whose own election was “illegal” and should also be set aside.
“After witnessing the fraudulent declaration of the election result (mayor’s post) by the presiding officer Anil Masih and seeing no impact of their protest, the 20 councillors (of INDIA Bloc) staged a walkout and the mayor conducted the elections in their absence,” it says
The plea adds the BJP only has 14 councillors in the MC house, which is much less the majority mark. “This is the reason why this election has been mired in controversy from the beginning,” it says, adding that the election process was “totally compromised”.
A long-winded saga
Notably, the Supreme Court had on Monday directed that the entire election record pertaining to mayoral polls, including ballot papers and videography, be sealed and preserved with the registrar of the Punjab and Haryana HC till the next date of hearing, for which it also summoned the returning officer to be present in court.
AAP-Congress joint candidate Kuldeep Dhalor had moved the apex court after he failed to get relief in HC in the petition challenging Sonkar’s election on January 30. The hearing had been deferred till February 26.
After going through the video of the election proceedings, Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud said to the solicitor general, who was representing the union territory of Chandigarh: “It is obvious. He has defaced the ballots. This man has to be prosecuted. This is a mockery of democracy. He is murdering democracy. Is this the way an officer has to conduct elections? We are appalled by his conduct.”
The SC is to take up the case again on February 19.
The controversial elections were originally supposed to take place on January 18 as per the notification of UT administration. However, on that day, Masih, a BJP leader and nominated councillor, fell ill and polls were deferred for February 6. AAP-Congress cried foul over the elections being deferred and approached the HC, which directed that polls be held on January 30.
