Chandigarh mayoral poll: High-stakes contest between BJP, AAP-Cong alliance

The Chandigarh mayoral poll is set to witness a keen contest between the BJP and the AAP-Congress alliance with officials stating that all necessary arrangements have been made for the elections, set to take place on Thursday.

The elections for the posts of mayor, senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor will be held in the assembly hall of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, officials said.

Meanwhile, the Chandigarh administration on Wednesday imposed Section 163 of the Bhartiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, banning the gathering of five or more persons within 100 meters of the Chandigarh MC building's perimeter.

AAP's Kuldeep Kumar Dhalor is the incumbent mayor of Chandigarh.

The AAP and Congress are contesting the mayoral elections as an alliance. While AAP is contesting the mayor's post, Congress has put up its candidates -- Jasbir Singh Bunty and Taruna Mehta -- for the posts of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor, respectively.

The AAP has fielded its councillor Prem Lata for the mayor's post, while the BJP has nominated Harpreet Kaur Babla.

For the posts of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor, the BJP has nominated Bimla Dubey and Lakhbir Singh Billu, respectively.

In the 35-member house of the Chandigarh MC, the AAP has 13 councillors and its ally Congress has six, meanwhile the BJP has 16 councillors.

A few days ago, Congress councillor Gurbax Rawat joined the BJP, increasing the BJP's strength to 16.

Additionally, the Chandigarh MP also has a voting right as an ex-officio member of the 35-member municipal corporation. The current MP is Manish Tewari of Congress.

Meanwhile, officials on Wednesday confirmed that necessary arrangements are in place for the mayoral polls on Thursday.

Nominated councillor Ramneek Singh Bedi has been appointed as the presiding officer for the election while former Punjab and Haryana High Court Justice (retd) Jaishree Thakur has been appointed as an independent observer for the mayoral poll by the Supreme Court.

The January 27 order came in response to a plea by AAP councillor and mayor Kuldeep Kumar, seeking a "show of hands" instead of a "secret ballot" to ensure fairness in the polling process.

Officials on Wednesday confirmed that the polls will be conducted through a secret ballot.

The top court also directed that the election proceedings be conducted in the presence of the observer and should be duly videographed.

In the 2024 mayoral elections, AAP's Kuldeep Kumar was declared the mayor of the Chandigarh MC by the Supreme Court on February 20 last year, after overturning the result of the Chandigarh mayoral poll in which the BJP candidate had been declared the winner.

The then presiding officer, Anil Masih, was caught on camera invalidating eight ballot papers that were in favour of the AAP-Congress alliance.