UT likely to release fresh mayoral poll schedule today

In a dramatic turn of events ahead of the mayoral elections, the Administration will issue a fresh poll notification after the Punjab and Haryana High Court ordered the UT to hold elections after January 29, when the tenure of incumbent Mayor Kuldeep Kumar ends.

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According to the notification issued by the UT Administration on January 7, today was the last day to file nomination papers for the posts of Mayor, Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor. The voting was to be held on January 24.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) moved the High Court against the notification claiming that the tenure of incumbent Mayor Kuldeep Kumar will end on February 19, and also pleaded for holding the elections by “show of hands”, instead of the secret ballot.

Deputy Commissioner Nishant Kumar Yadav said after the court’s order, a fresh notification for the mayoral elections will possibly be issued tomorrow. It would initiate a fresh round of the election process and all parties would be required to file fresh nominations, he added. Despite uncertainty over the pending court order, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress candidates filed their nomination papers.

The BJP fielded Harpreet Kaur Babla for the post of Mayor, Bimala Dubey for Senior Deputy Mayor and Lakhbir Singh Billu for Deputy Mayor.

Adhering to their alliance pact with AAP, the Congress named Jasbir Singh Bunty for Senior Deputy Mayor and Taruna Mehta for Deputy Mayor. AAP neither filed any nomination nor announced the names of the candidate for the post of Mayor.

However, these nominations were rendered null and void after the court order.

The AAP-Congress alliance, with a combined strength of 21 votes in the 35-member Municipal Corporation (MC) House, is likely to retain its majority. The alliance includes 13 votes of AAP, seven of the Congress, and one ex officio member’s vote of MP Manish Tewari. Welcoming the court’s decision, AAP leader Dr SS Ahluwalia said, “We are thankful to the High Court for respecting the people’s mandate and delivering justice to AAP.”

As the court declared the election notification as null and void, they decided not to file the nominations as it was of no use, he said.

The BJP, holding 15 votes, is banking on cross-voting or defections to secure the 19 votes required to win the elections. With the fresh election notification, political parties may revise their list of candidates. All six women councillors of AAP are vying for the mayoral post.