On Wednesday, the Punjab and Haryana High Court ruled in favor of holding the mayoral polls for the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation on January 30, overturning the Chandigarh administration’s decision to reschedule the elections for February 6.
The court’s decision was made in response to a petition filed by Kuldeep Kumar, an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor, challenging the Chandigarh Deputy Commissioner’s January 18 order to defer the mayoral, senior deputy mayor, and deputy mayor elections to February 6.
According to advocate Gurminder Singh, representing the petitioner, the Division Bench of Justice Sudhir Singh and Justice Harsh Bunger has set aside the Chandigarh administration’s order, and the polls are now scheduled to be held at 10 a.m. on January 30.
The mayoral polls were originally scheduled for January 18 but were postponed to February 6 after the election presiding officer fell ill. The Congress and the AAP, both INDIA bloc partners, accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of influencing the decision to defer the elections.
Under the INDIA bloc alliance, the Congress was set to contest the senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor positions, while the AAP was vying for the mayor’s seat, which was reserved for the Scheduled Caste (SC) category this year.
The Chandigarh MC has 35 councillors, with the Member of Parliament from the BJP serving as an ex-officio member with voting rights. The BJP has 14 councillors, the AAP has 13, the Congress has seven, and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has one member in the House.