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HC dismisses plea from AAP councillors’ challenging Chandigarh mayoral polls
The AAP candidates had lost the election to all three posts on January 8 and were seeking quashing of the election. In the mayoral elections, BJP’s first-time councillor Sarabjit Kaur Dhillon had won after defeating AAP’s Anju Katyal by one vote.
The Punjab and Haryana high court has dismissed a plea from Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillors, including their mayoral candidate Anju Katyal, challenging the election of the mayor, senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor of Chandigarh municipal corporation in January.
The AAP candidates had lost the election to all three posts on January 8 and were seeking quashing of the election. In the mayoral elections, BJP’s first-time councillor Sarabjit Kaur Dhillon had won after defeating AAP’s Anju Katyal by one vote.
In the polls for the senior deputy mayor, BJP’s Dalip Sharma, had pipped Prem Lata by two votes and for the deputy mayor’s post, BJP’s Anup Gupta and AAP’s Ram Chander Yadav were tied at 14 votes each, after which a draw of lot was conducted which went in Gupta’s favour. The BJP won 12 seats, the Congress eight and the SAD got one. With 14 councillors, AAP had the majority in the 35-member House. However, for polling, BJP also had 14 votes, including that of city MP Kirron Kher.
It had got one more vote as councillor Harpreet Kaur Babla, wife of former Congress leader Devinder Singh Babla, joined the BJP just ahead of the mayoral polls. The couple had joined the saffron party after Devinder Babla was expelled following a spat with Congress unit chief Subhash Chawla.
AAP had questioned why one torn vote in the mayor’s election, in favour of the BJP, was not declared invalid by the presiding officer, while another with a “tick mark”, in favour of the AAP, was.
In their plea, AAP councillors had alleged that the BJP indulged in horse-trading and also levelled allegations against BJP’s Maheshinder Singh Sidhu, who was the presiding officer in the January 8 elections. As per norms for the mayoral elections, only a nominated councillor could be the presiding officer. But the process to select nominated councillors was delayed and Sidhu was chosen as the presiding officer, they had argued.
UT had said the elections were held with secret ballot as per the provisions of the law. But after remaining unsuccessful, vague and vexatious allegations are being levelled against the officials, who were part of the process, it alleged. The representatives of both the parties were associated with the poll process and their objections were dealt with by the presiding officer, it further added.
Anil Mehta, senior standing council appearing for Chandigarh administration, also said the plea was contested by the UT terming it as non-maintainable. A detailed judgment is awaited.
