Chandigarh Mayor Election Row: SC to Hear AAP Councilor's Plea Today

A Bench of Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra is scheduled to hear the plea moved by AAP councilor Kuldeep Kumar demanding fresh election after the AAP-Congress alliance alleged irregularities in the election which saw one fourth of the votes declared scrapped by the Presiding Officer.

Chandigarh: The Supreme Court will on Monday, February 5, hear a plea by the Aam Aadmi Party challenging an order by the Punjab and Haryana High Court that refused an interim relief to the party in seeking fresh mayoral polls in Chandigarh. The Congress-AAP alliance has alleged irregularities in the voting in the Chandigarh polls in which the BJP swept the polls retaining all three posts. A Bench of Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra is likely to hear the plea moved by AAP councilor Kuldeep Kumar over the matter today.

The apex court had on Friday agreed to list the plea by the AAP councilor, three days after the BJP won the mayoral elections after one-fourth of the votes were scrapped. The results caused an uproar with the APP-Congress alliance alleging rigging by the Presiding Officer. On February 2, the Aam Aadmi Party held a strong demonstration in Delhi in this regard.

In the mayoral elections held on January 30 in Chandigarh, BJP's Manoj Sonkar won the mayoral election with 16 votes, while 8 out of 20 votes of the Aam Aadmi Party and Congress alliance were scrapped. AAP councilor Kuldeep Kumar, who was also a mayoral candidate in the polls, approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court to demand fresh mayoral elections.

But the High Court refused an interim relief to the AAP petitioner promoting him to knock the door of the Supreme Court. The Punjab and Haryana High Court has issued a notice to the Chandigarh administration and the Municipal Corporation in the matter and asked them to file a reply within three weeks.