CHANDIGARH: High Court issues notice to UT on mayor elections

The Punjab and Haryana High Court today issued notice of motion to the UT administration, a day after elected AAP councilor Kuldeep Kumar sought quashing of the January 18 order under which the municipal mayor, senior deputy mayor and deputy The mayoral elections were postponed. Illegally rescheduled” for February 6.

After the preliminary hearing, the division bench of Justice Sudhir Singh and Justice Harsh Bangar has also fixed January 23 as the next date of hearing in the case. Among other things, the petitioner argued that it was “wholly motivated” and based on false and frivolous grounds for “malicious reasons”. This was also in violation of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation (Procedure and Business Conduct) Regulations, 1996.

The petitioner further said: “The present petition involves various instances of political atrocities, which were openly committed at the behest of the bigwigs of the party in power at the Centre, all in connivance with the concerned administrative authorities/respondents, merely illegal occupation of /Were made to prevent rigging. “Elections for the posts of Mayor, Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor”.

In his petition filed through advocates RPS Bara, KS Kharbanda and Ferry Sofat, the petitioner said voting is a fundamental right granted to a citizen of India, duly protected under Article 14 of the Constitution of India. This pointed to large-scale irregularities and selective manipulation in the elections. The underlying principle of elections is that they should not only be free and fair but also appear fair.