Punjab & Haryana HC instructs to Conduct Chandigarh Mayoral Poll on 30 January

On Wednesday, the Punjab and Haryana High Court instructed the Chandigarh administration to conduct the mayoral elections for the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation (MC) on January 30. The Chandigarh deputy commissioner had initially rescheduled the elections from January 18 to February 6, a decision that faced legal challenge through a filed petition.

A division bench, consisting of Justices Sudhir Singh and Harsh Bunger, issued this directive during the hearing of a petition brought forward by Kuldeep Kumar, a councillor from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

The postponement of the mayoral elections had occurred due to the illness of Anil Masih, the presiding officer, prompting objections from Congress and AAP councillors. Both the Congress and AAP, which had formed an alliance for the mayoral polls, criticized the BJP, alleging that it obstructed the election process due to the fear of an “imminent defeat.”

In the high court proceedings, Kuldeep Kumar was represented by Senior Advocate Gurminder Singh, along with Ferry Sofat and RPS Bara. On the other side, the UT Chandigarh was represented by Senior Advocate Chetan Mittal and UT Senior Standing Counsel Anil Mehta.