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The Chandigarh administration on Tuesday rescheduled elections for the posts of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor for March 4.
The administration presented a fresh notification before the Punjab and Haryana high court on Tuesday afternoon during the hearing of pleas from two Congress councillors, who had challenged the deputy commissioner’s notification of holding the election on February 27.
Also read: Chandigarh mayor’s swearing in put off at last minute
Earlier in the day, BJP councillors had reached the municipal corporation office for the polls. However, Congress and AAP councillors, including mayor Kuldeep Kumar Dhalor, did not turn up.
Though the Congress-AAP alliance candidate was declared mayor by the Supreme Court last week, the party does not enjoy a majority in the House. Of the 36 votes, the BJP has 19 votes and the Congress-AAP alliance 17 votes.
During the hearing on the pleas of councillors, Gurpreet Singh Gabi and Nirmala Devi, who were candidates of the Congress for the senior deputy and deputy mayor, respectively, the court was told that the deputy commissioner did not have powers to convene the meeting for this election and it was only the mayor who could do so. Even if he had to do it, he should have consulted the mayor, the plea claims adding that the election be held as directed by the Supreme Court, which as per the plea means, a fresh notification be issued, nominations be invited again and thereafter a date be fixed.
During the hearing, UT had agreed to issue a fresh notification for the elections. When the matter was taken up again at 2pm, the UT informed the court that it has notified the elections on March 4.
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