The Municipal Council president's election was postponed again in Shahkot on Monday with Congress leaders led by MLA Hardev S Laddi Sherowalia taking to protest right outside the office of the Executive Officer.

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It was on January 16 that the elections had been last announced. On that day, neither the polling, nor oath ceremony for the 13 recently-elected councillors could be held as SDM Shubhi Angra had reportedly become unwell. On Saturday, a fresh notification for electing the president had been issued for Monday at 2 pm.

Ahead of the slated time, all councillors and Sherowalia reached the MC meeting hall for the election. The SDM again took leave. Upon the insistence of the Congress MLA and councillors, the administration handed over the charge to tehsildar Maninder Sidhu to hold the meeting. All councillors took oath after which some exchange of arguments started among the councillors.

The AAP four councillors who had won went out and tehsildar reportedly followed them saying that he had gone to call them back. The Congress councillors said they kept on waiting for the tehsildar but he did not return even after two hours. The Congress has nine councillors and AAP could win only four wards, with the former having a clear majority in the 13-ward council.

"After 4 pm, we all finally came out and lodged a protest squatting on the road for about 45 minutes. But we got no conclusive response. The government machinery is working at the behest of the AAP leaders and is deliberately not allowing election to be held", said Laddi Sherowalia.

While Laddi alleged that the tussle between two AAP councillors was a drama orchestrated by the ruling party, Deputy Commissioner Dr Himanshu Aggarwal said, "The tehsildar reported to me that a scuffle had ensued between the two councillors and the atmosphere was not conducive for conducting the election. We will give a new date for the election soon".