Congress and Aam Aadmi Party have lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after the cancellation of mayor polls scheduled to be held in Chandigarh on Thursday.
The AAP and Congress accused the BJP of not allowing to hold the mayoral polls in the wake of its “imminent defeat” and also said that they would move the Punjab and Haryana High Court to hold the elections.
Anil Masih was nominated as the presiding authority for the mayoral elections.
“I have got information that the presiding officer has been hospitalised with the intention to postpone the mayor election by the BJP. They have done a totally undemocratic thing,” Congress leader Pawan Kumar said.
AAP MP Raghav Chadha said, “It is clear that INDIA alliance is winning this election & BJP is losing. BJP has got scared of the INDIA alliance”.
He said if a presiding officer has fallen ill, then another presiding officer can be appointed to hold the polls.
Chadha 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 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.
However, there was no official word on postponing the mayoral polls. No next date for the poll has been given, Congress said.
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.”
‘Chandigarh Mayor Polls’
The Chandigarh Mayor polls hold 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 latter 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.
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Published: 18 Jan 2024, 02:17 PM IST