The election of the Mayor of Chandigarh Municipal Corporation will be videographed. Apart from this, a retired judge of the Supreme Court will be present here as an independent observer during this time. A hearing was held in the Supreme Court on this matter on Monday (January 27).
Apart from this, the Supreme Court said that the High Court’s orders will remain applicable during the Mayor’s tenure. AAP had demanded in this case that the previous Mayor’s tenure should be considered as one year from the day he took over the chair. However, the High Court has ordered to conduct the election on January 30. Advocate Fari Sofat confirmed this.
A bench of Justice Suryakant and Justice NK Singh heard this in the Supreme Court. They had sought a reply from the Chandigarh Administration whether an observer can be appointed to conduct the voting in a fair and independent manner. The court had expressed concern about the current Mayor Kuldeep Kumar’s councillors getting an independent and fair option for voting.
After the hearing, the court said that a notice should be issued for the appointment of a retired judge for the Mayor’s election. He will oversee the election process. The election process will continue during this time.
This matter is important because last time, Election Officer Anil Masih manipulated the votes and made a BJP candidate the mayor despite the AAP and Congress alliance having more councillors. After which the matter reached the Supreme Court and in the re-counting of votes, AAP candidate Kuldeep Kala was elected mayor.
