After the Mohali administration failed to convene elections for president, senior vice-president and vice-president of the Kharar municipal council on May 3 amid Covid curbs, the Shiromani Akali Dal claimed that it had elected its councillors to all three posts the same evening, prompting the sub-divisional magistrate to mark an inquiry into the matter.
SAD has elected Jaspreet Kaur as president, Harinder Pal Singh Jolly as senior vice-president and Jasbir Singh Jonny as vice-president.
On February 17, the MC elections had resulted in a hung house as Congress bagged 10 of 27 seats, SAD won eight, Aam Aadmi Party one and Independents clinched eight seats.
On April 19, violence had broken out during elections for the top posts of the MC after Congress councillors alleged that SAD was luring Independents with money. Some councillors tried to attack the SDM, compelling authorities to postpone the polls to May 3.
Kharar constituency SAD in-charge Ranjit Singh Gill said, “We knew that they (the administration) are not going to convene a meeting. Thus, on May 3, we elected our councillors to all three posts around 4.15pm as we had the support of 15 councillors.”
“The elections were conducted as per the Punjab Municipal Act. We have sent copies of the election to authorities concerned for notification and should they refuse, we will move court,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}“The elections were conducted as per the Punjab Municipal Act. We have sent copies of the election to authorities concerned for notification and should they refuse, we will move court,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}As per act, we can conduct elections by appointing one of our councillors as convener. A recording of the meeting has been submitted to the Kharar SDM, Gill added.
However, SDM Himanshu Jain said, “Elections on May 3 were postponed in the wake of Covid restrictions. Now, I have received an email regarding the conduct of elections, but I do not know when these elections were held . I have already marked an inquiry and have asked the executive officer of MC to submit a report.”