Chandigarh mayoral poll row: AAP-Congress joint candidate petitions SC

New Delhi: INDIA bloc’s mayoral candidate Kuldeep Kumar has filed a petition before the Supreme Court after the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday refused to pass an interim order staying the results of Chandigarh Municipal Corporation (CMC).

On Wednesday, the Punjab and Haryana High Court issued notice on a plea filed by AAP and Congress Party’s Joint Candidate Kuldeep Kumar accusing the Presiding Officer of resorting to fraud and forgery in the counting process.

The High Court sought response from the Chandigarh administration and CMC in the matter and asked respondents to file replies within three weeks.

However, it refused to pass an interim order staying the election results held a day earlier for the post of mayor.

In a major setback to the INDIA bloc’s Congress-AAP alliance on Tuesday, the municipal corporation ruling BJP retained the mayoral seat for the ninth time in a row by winning the post with just four votes.

The AAP-Congress alliance lost the seat despite having the maximum councillors. Eight out of 36 votes were declared invalid by presiding authority Anil Masih, a nominated councilor, with no voting right. The BJP got 16 votes, while the AAP-Congress alliance had 12 votes despite having 20 councillors.

In his petition before the high court, the AAP-Congress joint candidate alleged complete departure of the practice and rules saying that the presiding officer refused to allow the nominees of parties to monitor the counting of votes.

Kumar prayed for fresh election in a free and fair manner under the supervision of a retired High Court judge.

“The presiding officer in most flimsy manner addressed to the House that he does not want any assistance from the members nominated by the parties contesting the election and he will count the vote himself,” the petition said.