Mukesh Kumar
Chandigarh, January 17
A hearing was held today on a petition filed in the Punjab-Haryana High Court regarding the election to be held on January 24 for the next mayor of Chandigarh city. The High Court heard the arguments of all the parties and fixed the next hearing of the matter on January 20. Present Mayor Kuldeep Kumar had filed a petition in the court, raising questions on the premature termination of his tenure in the upcoming elections and appealing for provision of voting by show of hands. Hearing the matter today, the court has asked the Chandigarh administration whether the mayoral elections can be postponed. The court has asked the administration to bring clear instructions in this regard. The mayor had requested to hold the elections by February 19. This is an important development regarding the Chandigarh Mayor election and all eyes will be on its results. City Mayor Kuldeep Kumar on Wednesday appealed to Deputy Commissioner (DC) Nishant Yadav to postpone the upcoming elections and hold elections for the posts of Mayor, Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor after February 19. On Wednesday itself, he had also filed a petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court to change the date of these elections. Mayor Kuldeep Kumar said that his tenure does not end till January 24, which is the date fixed for the mayoral elections. Secondly, the ‘AAP’ councilors wanted that this time the election should be conducted in a fair manner by raising hands in front of everyone and not through ballots so as to avoid any kind of differences like last time. It may be mentioned that last year, a BJP-nominated councilor who was made the Returning Officer for the mayoral elections was accused of rigging the tally of votes. In this regard, the Aam Aadmi Party filed a petition in the High Court that the mayoral elections should be conducted by show of hands instead of ballot papers.
