HC dismisses Phagwara mayoral election petition

The Punjab and Haryana High Court today dismissed the petition, challenging the Phagwara mayoral elections.

The petition was filed by Phagwara MLA Balwinder Singh Dhaliwal and Congress Councillor Sanjeev Bugga, but a Double Bench comprising Justice Sudhir Singh and Justice Sukhwinder Kaur ruled in favour of the elections, relying on the observer’s report.

Advocates Karanjot Singh Jhikka and Maninder Saini represented Dhaliwal and Bugga in the case. Following the dismissal, advocate Jhikka expressed dissatisfaction with the decision, stating that the court overlooked crucial videographic evidence despite earlier orders mandating its submission.

“The court had directed the submission of both videography of the election proceedings and the observer’s report. However, despite our repeated requests and submissions, the court did not review the videography and instead based its judgment solely on the observer’s report,” Jhikka said.

Dissatisfied with the High Court's decision, the petitioners have decided to challenge the ruling in the Supreme Court. “Since the videography was not considered, we will move the Supreme Court against this order,” Jhikka added.

The legal challenge stemmed from allegations regarding the fairness of the Phagwara mayoral elections.

In an earlier hearing on March 10, the High Court had directed that both videographic evidence and observer’s report be presented for scrutiny in the proceedings scheduled for March 19.

The petitioners had argued that videography was a fundamental piece of scientific evidence that would provide an objective and transparent account of the election process. They maintained that such evidence was crucial in reaching a fair and just decision.

Meanwhile, the respondents submitted an affidavit in the case, but the observer’s report was ultimately used as the basis for the High Court's decision. The petitioners contended that the lack of consideration for videographic evidence raiseed concerns about transparency and fairness in the judicial review of the election process.

As the petition is now dismissed by the High Court, all eyes are on the Supreme Court, where the next phase of the legal battle over the Phagwara mayoral elections is set to unfold.