The court was hearing AAP mayoral candidate Kuldeep Dhalor’s plea, which challenged the Chandigarh administration’s decision to postpone the election until February 6 and demanded that it be held within 24 hours.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Saturday directed the Chandigarh administration and municipal corporation to notify the court by January 23 of the earliest possible date for mayoral elections.
The court was hearing a petition from Aam Aadmi Party mayoral candidate Kuldeep Dhalor, who contested the Union Territory (UT) administration’s decision to postpone the election until February 6 and demanded that it be held within 24 hours. The petition demanded that a court commissioner be appointed to ensure free and fair elections.
Police occupied in coming week, court told
During the hearing, UT senior standing counsel Anil Mehta informed the court that events are taking place in the city in preparation for the consecration ceremony of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya on January 22. Following that, police would be preoccupied with preparations for the Republic Day festivities.
However, the bench of justices Sudhir Singh and Harsh Bunger orally directed the counsel to inform the court by January 23rd of the earliest possible date for elections.
In the 35-member MC House, the AAP and the Congress, which are contesting the election as allies, have 20 votes, while the BJP, which has been ruling the MC for eight years now, has 15 votes—14 from councillors and one from MP Kirron Kher.
Fourth plea by AAP-Congress alliance
This was the third plea from the AAP and the fourth from the Congress-AAP alliance regarding the high-stakes elections, which were scheduled for January 18 but were postponed by the administration due to the presiding officer’s illness.
The Congress and the AAP have accused UT officials of siding with the BJP and delaying the election to give the saffron party time to build support through horse-trading.
The petition stated that while a plea on the issue of election was pending before the court on Thursday afternoon and was scheduled to be heard following a request for an urgent hearing, the administration issued an order deferring the poll until February 6. “This is illegal, arbitrary and bad in the eyes of law, as the order was passed with the intent to overreach and frustrate the proceedings pending before the court,” the statement said.
It also states that the administration’s cited concern about a law and order situation was not a valid reason to postpone the elections. “This is being done to assist a particular political dispensation that has held the reins of the corporation until now, as they are clearly short of a majority. “The entire process has been hijacked by creating roadblocks at every stage, forcing the petitioner to come to court via two previous writ petitions,” Dhalor stated in his plea.