No interim relief from HC, AAP to move SC

The battle for Chandigarh’s mayoral seats intensified on Wednesday as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Congress, still reeling from their shock defeat by the BJP, continued protests and challenged the results in the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Their high court petition seeking to overturn the Tuesday election results and hold fresh polls under a retired judge’s supervision hit a temporary roadblock as the court asked the Chandigarh administration to file a response within three weeks, offering no immediate relief to the Opposition. Undeterred, AAP announced plans to escalate the fight to the Supreme Court for an expedited hearing.

“We will move the Supreme Court. We will seek an early hearing in the matter. There is a video of the whole thing,” AAP leader and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann told reporters and wondered why the Chandigarh administration required three weeks to prepare a report.

The BJP won Chandigarh mayoral polls, retaining all three posts, causing a setback to the Congress-AAP alliance. It was the first election in which two key constituents of the Opposition’s grand INDIA alliance joined hands to contest the mayoral election by fielding a joint candidate. Given the numbers in 35-member House of the Municipal Corporation stacking in their favour, the AAP-Congress combine was sure of their victory but the eight votes which were declared invalid spelt doom for them. The division bench of Justices Sudhir Singh and Harsh Bunger issued notices to the Chandigarh administration, the municipal corporation, presiding officer Anil Masih and newly elected mayor Manoj Sonkar, among others, to file their replies within three weeks. The court posted the matter to February 26.

The petition was filed by AAP councillor Kuldeep Kumar, who was the candidate for the mayor’s post, against the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation and the Chandigarh administration, among others.

Speaking to reporters after the hearing, UT Chandigarh administration senior standing counsel Anil Mehta said the court refused to give any interim relief to the petitioner.

“We have been given a three-week time to file a response and we will do so,” said Mehta. He added that the issue regarding the maintainability of the petition was still pending. The petitioner’s counsel Gurminder Singh said their prayer’s ambit was that the mayoral poll result be set aside and free and fair elections be held under the supervision of a retired judge of the high court.

According to the plea, the petition was filed as the “election was not held in a free and fair manner and there was a gross violation while counting of votes, with tampering of the ballot papers and then declaring them invalid, in the favour of BJP and against the alliance of AAP and Congress.”

The petitioner has sought an investigation by an independent investigation agency into the “entire fraud” committed during the election process.

The petitioner sought directions to respondents to seal, preserve and present before the HC the entire process of the election, including the record of ballot papers and proceedings of the election process and videography done on Tuesday, according to the plea.

Holding a protest near the Sector 17 police station here, the councillors of AAP and the Congress raised slogans against the BJP, claiming “murder of democracy” during the mayoral polls. Heavy deployment of police force was done and barricades were erected near the police station.

The protesters demanded action against presiding officer Anil Masih, accusing him of tampering with some ballot papers during the polls which led to declaration of eight votes as invalid.

Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, Chandigarh Congress president H S Lucky and several AAP leaders joined the protest.

BJP candidate Manoj Sonkar defeated AAP’s Kuldeep Kumar for the mayor’s post, polling 16 votes against the 12 bagged by his rival. Eight votes were declared invalid. BJP has dismissed charges of the opposition.