Chandigarh mayor election row: High Court reprimands administration over delay in polls

The Punjab and Haryana High Court while hearing a petition challenging the DC's order to hold the elections on Feb 6, said that the delay in the polls was beyong comprehension while telling the Chandigarh administration to conduct the elections forthwith and not force the court to issue strict orders.

Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Saturday reprimanded the Chandigarh administration over the delay in the mayoral polls to the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation. The court's comments came after the polls were canceled on Thursday Jan 18 due to the “ill health” of the presiding officer. A Division Bench of the High Court reprimanded the Chandigarh administration and asked them to fix the new date of the elections soon.

The next date of hearing has been scheduled on Jan 23. The Division Bench was hearing a plea against the orders by the Deputy Commissioner scheduling the mayoral polls to the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation on Feb 6. The Bench observed that holding elections on 6th February is beyond comprehension and such a delay was not justified.

To this, Chetan Mittal, the lawyer representing the Chandigarh administration said that election could not be held for now due to “security reasons” saying that the police were busy in preparations for the upcoming Ram temple inauguration on Jan 22 and the Republic Day on Jan 26. On this, the High Court said that it was a simple election. The High Court told the Chandigarh administration in strong words not to force it to issue strict orders.

The Chandigarh Municipal Corporation is currently in the middle of a political row after Councilors of the AAP and the Congress held a strong protest outside the corporation office accusing the BJP of delaying the due polls. The protesting AAP and Congress councilors said that the BJP had “sensed defeat” and was not allowing the elections to take place. The Congress and AAP, which are part of the INDIA opposition bloc have decided to unitedly fight the Chandigarh mayoral elections.

Under the mutually agreed pact, the AAP will contest the Mayor post while the Congress will vie for the Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor posts.