Chandigarh Mayoral Poll | P&H HC To Hear Plea Challenging Election Of Senior & Deputy Mayor By New Elected Chandigarh Mayor Tomorrow

The Punjab & Haryana High Court will hear a plea tomorrow (February 09), challenging the Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor election conducted by the newly appointed Manoj Sonkar from BJP, after he was elected as a Mayor of Chandigarh on January 30.

A bench of Justice Sudhir Singh and Justice Harsh Bunger will hear the matter listed at item number 113 of the urgent list. 

The plea seeks directions to set aside the election of the Mayor and also the election of Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Chandigarh Municipal Corporation held subsequently on the same day with the "illegally & fraudulently elected Mayor as Presiding Authority in the chair."

Two candidates contesting for the post of Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor election have moved the High Court alleging that video footage of the election process points towards a pre-planned intention of hijacking and derailing the democratic process in the Mayoral elections by various authorities including the Presiding officer and elected Mayor, by resorting to arbitrary and illegal acts of forgery, which include invalidating of votes by tampering the ballot papers. 

The plea added that although the recently elected Mayor presided over further elections for the posts of Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor, his own elevation was illegal and invalid. The petitioners, who were contesting for the post of Senior Deputy Mayor, challenged the election of the Mayor and refused to hold elections under him, the plea added.

It was submitted that when the protest of the petitioners and their associate councillors to conduct the elections in a fair and transparent manner fell on deaf ears of the prescribed authority, the petitioners and 18 other councillors (voters), who were demanding a recount of votes, walked out to protest against tampering of the ballot papers.

"Within minutes, the illegally elected Mayor conducted the elections of Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor in their absence," added the plea.

Notably, the Supreme Court on Monday, came down heavily on the Presiding Officer who conducted the Chandigarh Mayor elections by orally saying, "It is obvious that he defaced the ballot papers."

"Is this the way he conducts the elections? This is a mockery of democracy. This is a murder of democracy. This man should be prosecuted," Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud remarked after seeing the video of the controversial election, in which a BJP candidate was declared the winner after the votes of 8 councillors of the Congress-AAP alliance were declared invalid.

The AAP councillor approached the Supreme Court challenging the decision of the High Court to list his petition after three weeks without granting an immediate stay of the results.

He moved the High Court alleging vote tampering in the Chandigarh Mayor Elections, where Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Manoj Sonkar emerged victorious on January 30. The BJP candidate secured 16 votes against the 12 votes received by Kuldeep Kumar, the candidate backed by Congress and AAP. The Presiding Officer rejected 8 votes as invalid.

He sought setting aside the impugned election result "as the same is a result of complete fraud and forgery laid upon the democratic process" and prayed for holding of fresh elections in a free and fair manner under the supervision of a retired High Court Judge.

On January 31, the High Court denied his prayer to dissolve the functioning of the office until further orders. "Whether counting was proper, whether procedure was followed or not...These are all questions of facts," it reasoned.

Advocates Rajiv Sharma, Karanbir Singh, Manoj Gujral for the petitioners.

Title: GURPREET SINGH v. UNION TERROTORY OF CHANDIGARH & Ors.