The mayoral polls of Chandigarh, slated to be held on Thursday, were deferred at the last moment after the presiding officer fell sick, municipal councillors of the Congress and the AAP said, citing a message they received from the municipal authorities.
The Congress and the AAP leaders slammed the BJP, accusing it of not allowing to hold the mayoral polls in the wake of its "imminent defeat". The development came just ahead of the polling for the posts of mayor, senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor. The meeting for polling through secret ballot was to take place at 11 am in the assembly hall of the municipal corporation.
Several councillors received a message on an official WhatsApp group saying: "It is informed that a telephonic message has been received regarding the ill health of Anil Masih, who has been nominated as presiding authority for the meeting scheduled on January 18 for the post of Mayor u/60 (a) read with Regulation 6 (1) of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation (Procedure and Conduct of Business) Regulation, 1996. In view of the above, it is requested not to reach the MC office till further orders are received."
Anil Masih was nominated as the presiding authority for the mayoral elections.
Senior Congress leader Pawan Kumar Bansal also claimed that they had been informed that elections would not take place on Thursday as the presiding officer had fallen sick. "It has been informed that elections will not take place today as the presiding officer has fallen sick," claimed Bansal as he accused the BJP of not allowing the polls to take place as the saffron party was to face defeat in the elections.
Bansal said no next date for the poll has been given. "If that was the case and the presiding officer had really fallen sick, then they should have nominated another one as the presiding officer. On one hand, they have given the message that polls are not taking place and we should not come and on the other hand, it was easy to appoint another presiding officer," Bansal said. "It is unprecedented. Such a thing has never happened," he said.
The development triggered protests by the Congress and the AAP councillors who were fighting the polls in an alliance under the INDIA bloc. The polls for the posts of mayor, senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor were to take place on Thursday.
AAP leader Raghav Chadha also raised questions over the sudden ill-health of the presiding officer and hit out at the BJP while equating it with a child who takes his bat home after he gets out in a gully cricket for not taking the cricket match to take place. Chadha further accused the BJP of cancelling the mayoral poll after facing its "imminent defeat," adding that there was a clear majority of the Congress and the AAP's part of the INDIA bloc in the House. "Today, they made the presiding officer fall sick and it seems that the whole BJP has developed ill health after seeing the INDIA bloc," he said.
What message the BJP want to send in the country and whether democracy is so weak that when the BJP is in a position to win a poll, then elections will take place and when the BJP is losing it, then it will not take place. Whether this message the BJP wants to send," Chadha said, adding "We have urged that free and fair polls should take place and a new presiding officer be appointed today itself for holding the mayoral polls on the scheduled date," he said.
"It is just mayoral elections and in these polls, the INDIA alliance has made the BJP losing its sleep. In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, you can well imagine what the INDIA bloc and people will do with BJP," Chadha said. He said if a presiding officer has fallen ill, then another presiding officer can be appointed for holding the polls. He said, "We had valid passes for going to the MC office and then it was informed that entry was closed as the presiding officer had suddenly fallen sick."
"He is actually not sick. These are BJP's tactics and it shows that BJP can stoop to any level to end democracy and free and fair elections," the Rajya Sabha member alleged.
The mayoral polls this time assume significance as the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party -- both INDIA bloc members -- have joined hands to contest the elections to oust the BJP from the chair of mayor which it has been winning for the last eight years. Chadha had said that the INDIA bloc will sweep the Chandigarh municipal polls and the victory will be the curtain raiser for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Under the Congress-AAP alliance, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will fight for the mayor's seat while the Congress will contest the posts of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor. In the 35-member Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, the BJP has 14 councillors. It also has an ex-officio member MP (Kirron Kher) who has voting rights. The AAP has 13 councillors and the Congress seven. The Shiromani Akali Dal has one councillor in the House.
AAP moves HC over deferment of Chandigarh mayoral polls
The AAP Thursday moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court after the Chandigarh mayoral polls were abruptly postponed with councillors being told that the presiding officer had fallen ill. The administration told the court the elections have been deferred to February 6. The petition was filed by AAP councillor Kuldeep Kumar, who is the candidate for mayor post. The petitioner sought holding the mayoral polls and the appointment of a new presiding officer in place of Anil Masih after he fell sick.
The court refused to grant any immediate relief to the AAP and fixed January 23 as the next date of hearing in the matter. The matter was listed before the division bench of Justices Sudhir Singh and Harsh Bunger, said Chetan Mittal, the counsel for the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation. During the hearing Thursday evening, the counsel for the Chandigarh administration informed the high court that February 6 has been fixed as the next date for the mayoral polls after assessing the prevailing law and order situation.