High Court issues notice to UT on mayoral poll

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 20

The Punjab and Haryana High Court today issued notice of motion to the UT Administration a day after elected AAP counsellor Kuldeep Kumar sought the quashing order dated January 18, whereby the elections of Mayor, Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Municipal Corporation were “postponed and illegally rescheduled” for February 6.

After preliminary hearing, the Bench of Justice Sudhir Singh and Justice Harsh Bunger also fixed January 23 as the next date of hearing in the matter. Among other things, the petitioner contended it was “completely motivated” and for “mala fide reasons” on false and frivolous grounds. It was also in violation of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation (Procedure and Conduct of Business) Regulation, 1996.

The petitioner added: “The present petition contains various instances of political atrocities, been openly carried out at the behest of ruling party’s big-wigs at the Centre, all in mutual connivances with administrative officers/respondents concerned, just to circumvent illegal capture/rigging of 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 added voting was a fundamental right guaranteed to a citizen of India, duly protected under Article 14 of the Constitution of India. It pointed to large-scale tempering and selective malfunctioning of the polls. The principle underlying the elections is that it need not only be free and fair but also seen to be fair.

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