Chandigarh MC polls deferred till further orders after presiding officer falls 'sick'

Chandigarh: The Chandigarh mayoral polls, slated to be held on Thursday, were deferred till further orders after the presiding officer fell sick, claimed several municipal councillors of the Congress and the AAP, citing a message they received from the municipal authorities.

The Congress and the AAP leaders slammed the BJP, accusing it of not allowing to hold the mayoral polls in the wake of its "imminent defeat" and also said that they will move the Punjab and Haryana High Court for holding the elections.

The development came just ahead of the polling for the posts of mayor, senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor. The meeting for polling through secret ballot was to take place at 11 am in the assembly hall of the municipal corporation.

However, there was no official word on postponing the mayoral polls.

Several councillors received a message on an official WhatsApp group saying: "It is informed that a telephonic message has been received regarding the ill health of Anil Masih, who has been nominated as presiding authority for the meeting scheduled on January 18 for the post of Mayor u/60 (a) read with Regulation 6 (1) of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation (Procedure and Conduct of Business) Regulation, 1996. In view of the above, it is requested not to reach the MC office till further orders are received." Anil Masih was nominated as the presiding authority for the mayoral elections.

Senior Congress leader Pawan Kumar Bansal also claimed that they have been informed that elections will not take place on Thursday as the presiding officer has fallen sick.

"It has been informed that elections will not take place today as the presiding officer has fallen sick," claimed Bansal as he accused the BJP of not allowing the polls to take place as the saffron party was to face defeat in the elections.

Bansal said no next date for the poll has been given.

"If that was the case and the presiding officer had really fallen sick, then they should have nominated another one as the presiding officer. On one hand, they have given the message that polls are not taking place and we should not come and on the other hand, it was easy to appoint another presiding officer," Bansal said.

"It is unprecedented. Such a thing has never happened," he said.

The development triggered protests by the Congress and the AAP councillors who were fighting the polls in an alliance under the INDIA bloc.

The polls for the posts of mayor, senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor were to take place on Thursday.

AAP leader Raghav Chadha also raised question over the sudden ill-health of the presiding officer and hit out at the BJP while equating it with a child who takes his bat home after he gets out in a gully cricket for not taking the cricket match to take place.

Chadha further accused the BJP of cancelling the mayoral poll after facing its "imminent defeat," adding that there was a clear majority of the Congress and the AAP's part of the INDIA bloc in the House.

"Today, they made the presiding officer fall sick and it seems that the whole BJP has developed ill health after seeing the INDIA bloc," he said.

What message the BJP wants to send in the country and whether democracy is so weak that when the BJP will be in a position to win a poll, then elections will take place and when the BJP is losing it, then it will not take place. Whether this message the BJP wants to send," Chadha said.

"Whether the BJP wants to turn this country into North Korea,” he alleged.

Chadha said they will approach the high court to seek justice and make every effort that the mayoral polls take place.

"We have urged that free and fair polls should take place and a new presiding officer be appointed today itself for holding the mayoral polls on the scheduled date," he said.

"It is just mayoral elections and in these polls, the INDIA alliance has made the BJP losing its sleep. In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, you can well imagine what the INDIA bloc and people will do with BJP," Chadha said.

He said if a presiding officer has fallen ill, then another presiding officer can be appointed for holding the polls.

Chadha said, "We had valid passes for going to the MC office and then it was informed that entry was closed as the presiding officer had suddenly fallen sick." "He is actually not sick. These are BJP's tactics and it shows that BJP can stoop to any level to end democracy and free and fair elections," the Rajya Sabha member alleged.

The mayoral polls this time assume significance as the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party -- both INDIA bloc members -- have joined hands to contest the elections to oust the BJP from the chair of mayor which it has been winning for the last eight years.

Chadha had said that the INDIA bloc will sweep the Chandigarh municipal polls and the victory will be the curtain raiser for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Under the Congress-AAP alliance, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will fight for the mayor's seat while the Congress will contest the posts of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor.

In the 35-member Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, the BJP has 14 councillors. It also has an ex-officio member MP (Kirron Kher) who has voting rights.

The AAP has 13 councillors and the Congress seven. The Shiromani Akali Dal has one councillor in the House.