The notification for holding the elections of Mayor, Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor was cancelled by the Punjab and Haryana High Court after hearing on Monday. Under the notification issued by DC Nishant Kumar Yadav on January 7, nominations were to be held on January 20 and elections were to be held on January 24 through voting in the corporation house meeting.
Instructions have been given to conduct these elections after January 29. At the same time, as far as the matter of holding elections by raising hands instead of secret ballot paper is concerned, the court has ordered Chandigarh Administrator Gulab Chand Kataria to look into it.
Hearing on Mayor Kuldeep’s petition
The court gave this order while hearing the petition of the current Mayor Kuldeep Kumar. Mayor Kuldeep Kumar had challenged the notification of the election in the petition saying that his mayor tenure should be till February 19, 2025. Because the Supreme Court had appointed Kuldeep Kumar to the post of Mayor by giving an order on February 20, 2024.
If the election is held before February 20, then the one-year term of the Mayor will not be completed. In view of the mayor elections being held on 30 January 2024, for the time being, on the challenge of AAP, the mayoral elections in Chandigarh have been postponed till 29 January. After the cancellation of the notification, a fresh election notification will now be issued.
Elections to be held in February
It is certain that the elections will be held in February itself. Now there are different speculations about the date of the election. When the new notification is issued will depend on the DC. The rule is that there must be a gap of three working days between nomination and polling day. One day will be counted for nomination and one for polling day.
In such a situation, if the notification is issued on January 30, then elections will be held around February 5 in a process of at least five days. The court has extended the tenure of Mayor Kuldeep till January 29. It is also being speculated that as soon as the court order comes, a new notification can be issued in a day or two. The date of election can also be 30 or 31 January.
Congress and BJP filed nomination papers
The High Court has cancelled the election notification. Congress and BJP filed nomination papers of their candidates. This time the post of Mayor is reserved for women. BJP has nominated Harpreet Kaur Babla for Mayor, Bimla Dubey for Senior Deputy Mayor and Lakhbir Singh Billu for Deputy Mayor.
All three filed nomination papers in the presence of Chairman Jatinder Pal Malhotra, former Chairman Sanjay Tandon and Arun Sood. On the other hand, Congress filed nomination only for the post of Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor.
Jasbir Singh Bunty filed nomination for Senior Deputy Mayor and Taruna Mehta for Deputy Mayor in the presence of Chairman HS Lucky and councillors.
Supporting AAP for the post of Mayor, Congress did not file nomination for it. However, after the new notification, these nominations will have no justification. These will have to be done afresh.
The High Court’s instructions have not been received yet. We will decide when the elections will be held only after reading the order.
– Nishant Kumar Yadav, Deputy Commissioner, Chandigarh.
Aam Aadmi Party did not reveal its cards
BJP and Congress got the nominations done and announced the candidates. On the other hand, AAP has not filed nominations and has not yet opened its address. It is not clear yet who will be the Mayor, Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor candidates. AAP has done this strategically.
All the six councillors in AAP are contenders for the post of Mayor. If any one candidate is declared, the other could get angry. This anger is likely to cause loss in the elections. Keeping this in mind, AAP did not file nominations. Names were also not declared.
AAP has won in the High Court. BJP wanted to hold elections before the completion of Mayor Kuldeep’s tenure by putting pressure on the officials of the administration. The court did not allow this sin to happen. BJP will not succeed in its plans.
– Dr. SS Ahluwalia, Co-incharge, AAP.
