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The Punjab and Haryana High Court has refused to give immediate relief to the petitioner on the petition filed regarding the Chandigarh Mayoral elections. On the petition of Aam Aadmi Party and Congress mayoral contender Kuldeep Kumar, the High Court has issued a notice to the Chandigarh administration and other defendants and sought their response.
As the hearing on the petition began on Wednesday, the petitioner's side said that the manner in which the presiding officer rigged the election during the counting of votes has been witnessed by the entire country and it is unfortunate. Calling it a murder of democracy, the petitioner has appealed to the High Court to intervene.
The Chandigarh administration has sought four weeks' time to present its side in this matter. The High Court adjourned the hearing by giving three weeks' time to the administration.
The petitioner had requested that Manoj Sonkar be restrained from acting as mayor during the pendency of the petition, but the High Court refused. The High Court said that the order regarding any interim relief will be issued only after the response of the Chandigarh administration. It was contended on behalf of the administration that this petition is not valid as there are other alternatives available to the petitioner at present.
Congress-AAP candidate for the post of mayor, Kuldeep Kumar, filed a petition in the High Court alleging rigging in the mayoral election of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation and demanded the cancellation of the election.
It was stated in the petition that the elections of Mayor, Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Chandigarh Municipal Corporation were to be held on January 30. Elections were also held on Tuesday as scheduled, but in the mayoral election, 8 out of 20 votes of Congress-AAP were declared invalid, due to which the BJP candidate was elected mayor.
It has been alleged in the petition that the presiding officer Anil Masih had tampered with the ballot papers during the counting of votes, due to which his votes were declared invalid.
On behalf of Kuldeep Kumar, senior advocate Gurminder Singh appealed to the High Court to hear his petition immediately and seal the record of this election as it is a direct murder of democracy. The High Court has refused to hear the petition immediately and has fixed the hearing for Wednesday morning.
The petition stated that the DGP of Chandigarh had shown his commitment to conduct transparent elections in the High Court, yet the elections were not fair. The votes of the AAP-Congress alliance were manipulated to give victory to the BJP candidate. In such a situation, the High Court was appealed to cancel this rigged election process and direct the elections to be held afresh.
The elections should be conducted under the supervision of a retired judge of the High Court so that its impartiality is maintained. A SIT of senior police officers should be formed to investigate rigging during the election process and all records related to the elections should be sealed.
It has been alleged in the petition that Anil Masih has counted the votes himself while addressing the House in a very strange manner. In this, no agent of both the candidates was called for the counting of votes. The opposite party has not given any reason for invalidating 8.
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