The city is set for intense political maneuvering as the mayoral polls approach. Chandigarh has a total of 35 elected councillors and the vote of the city’s MP is also counted, bringing the total voting strength to 36. Additionally, there are nine nominated councillors who do not possess voting rights.

Prior to the defection, the BJP held 16 votes, while AAP had 13. With Suman Devi and Poonam Devi joining the BJP, the numbers have now shifted to 18 for the BJP and 11 for the AAP. The Congress holds six councillor votes and with MP Manish Tiwari’s vote, the party’s total comes to seven. A simple majority of 19 votes is required to secure the mayoral seat, putting the BJP just one vote shy of the threshold.

Currently, Harpreet Kaur Babla serves as Chandigarh’s mayor. 

Kuldeep Kumar raised concerns about the fairness of the previous mayoral election, claiming that the Election Officer manipulated the results to favour the BJP. He advocated for a hand-raising voting method in this year’s election.

Kuldeep Singh's lawyer said the Supreme Court had set the next hearing for January 27. The voting for the mayoral election is scheduled for January 30, with the last day for filing nominations being January 25.

Prior to reaching the Supreme Court, the matter was taken to the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The petitioners pointed out that a proposal was passed in the Municipal Corporation on October 29, 2024, to conduct the mayoral election via hand-raising. The High Court directed the administration to reconsider this proposal, as it had already been passed. However, the administration has not yet approved it, leading the petitioners to approach the Supreme Court.

Besides, a challenge was made on January 24 regarding the election itself, with the Supreme Court ordering that the election be held by January 29.

The elections will be held in accordance with the provisions of Section 38 and Section 60 of the Punjab Municipal Corporation Act, 1976, as extended to Chandigarh under the Punjab Municipal Corporation Law (Extension to Chandigarh) Act, 1994. Deputy Commissioner Nishant Kumar Yadav, serving as the Prescribed Authority under Notification No. 5620-UTFI(4)/13157 dated October 4, 1994, has issued directives for the election meeting.

Since the last elections were marred by a controversy, Dr Ramneek Singh Bedi, a renowned Pediatrician from the Tricity, has been appointed as the presiding authority for the proceedings to ensure a fair poll process.

As per the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation (Procedure and Conduct of Business) Regulations, 1996, elected councillors are invited to submit their nominations in Form No. 1, which can be obtained from the Secretary of the Municipal Corporation. Each nomination must be duly signed by the candidate and supported by two councillors as proposer and seconder.

Candidates for the position of Mayor can file their nominations until January 20 between 11 am and 5 pm. The same timeline applies for nominations for the positions of Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor.

To ensure a smooth electoral process, Shashi Vasundhra, HCS, Joint Commissioner-I of the Municipal Corporation, has been assigned to assist the Presiding Authority in counting the votes on the election day.

The Secretary of the Municipal Corporation will issue a detailed election programme and additional guidelines separately in the coming days.

The BJP countered by accusing the Congress of undermining Dr BR Ambedkar's legacy during Jawaharlal Nehru's tenure as Prime Minister. The war of words quickly escalated into a scuffle lasting nearly 20 minutes, disrupting the meeting.

The tension intensified when some Congress and AAP leaders described nominated councillor Anil Masih a 'vote thief'. This referred to allegations of ballot tampering during the mayoral elections held earlier this year, where Anil Masih, as the returning officer, was accused of defacing eight ballot papers in favour of the BJP. Masih, who has since apologised unconditionally to the Supreme Court, retorted by mentioning Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s legal troubles in the National Herald case.

The controversy surrounding Amit Shah’s comments has also paralysed the ongoing winter session of Parliament, with opposition parties staging massive protests and demanding his resignation. Members of the NDA and the opposition alliance engaged in heated arguments in the Parliament complex, accusing one another of disrespecting the Dalit icon.

In a tweet, SAD leader Dr Daljit Singh Cheema mentioned that the Shiromani Akali Dal had already expressed its opposition to the decision during the House Session, where the party's city president and municipal councilor, Hardeep Singh Buterla, strongly objected to the move.

“Chandigarh is the capital of Punjab and daily thousands of people from the state visit the city for their official works. It will be an unnecessary penalty on all of them. SAD reminded UT Corp that this city was developed dislocating dozens of Punjab villages. So Corp should not behave in such a thankless way”, the tweet reads.

“Moreover it is unprecedented & a retrograde decision to discriminate amongst people of different states of the country on state to state basis. Everybody visiting the city beautiful should be treated at par”, Cheema said in his tweet.

The Chandigarh Municipal Corporation House on Tuesday approved free parking for all kinds of two-wheelers as well as electric two and four-wheelers in its upcoming 91 smart paid parking lots. However, it allowed a marginal hike in car rates and made it double for vehicles registered outside the Tricity.

दरासल आरोपी लड़का और नाबालिग लड़की दोनों एक ही कॉलेज में पढ़ते है। आरोपी चंडीगढ़ के सेक्टर 52 में रहता है। पीड़िता के मुताबिक आरोपी एक बार उसे बहाने से एक कमरे में ले गया। जहां पर उसने उससे जबरदस्ती की और रेप कर अश्लील वीडियो भी बना ली। 

अश्लील वीडियो बना दी धमकी

पीड़िता के मुताबिक आरोपी उसे बार-बार वीडियो लीक करने की धमकी देने लगा। जिसके बाद वह उससे लगातार रेप करने लगा। इसके अलावा वह उसके साथ मारपीट भी करता था। डर के कारण पीड़िता ने किसी को कुछ नहीं बताया। लेकिन यह सिलसिला बढ़ने लगा। जिसके बाद पीड़िता ने हिम्मत कर पुलिस में शिकायत दर्ज करवाई। 

18 वर्षीय छात्रा जो मामले में पीड़ित भी है उसने पुलिस को दी शिकायत में बताया कि आरोपी मई 2022 में उसे एक घर में ले गया। जहां उसने रेप कर उसकी अश्लील वीडियो बना ली। आरोपी उसे बार-बार यह धमकी देता था कि वह वीडियो वायरल कर देगा। जिसके डर से पीड़िता चुप रही। 

फिलहाल पुलिस ने आरोपी को मोबाइल बरामद कर लिया है और उसे जांच के लिए भेज दिया है। मोबाइल को फोरेंसिक लैब भी भेजा जा सकता है ताकि फोन का सारा डाटा रिकवर किया जा सके। 

यहां देखें वीडियो 

हैरानी की बात तो यह है कि पीसीआर पुलिस और बीट पुलिस को इन पटाखों  की आवाज सुनाई नहीं दी। मानो चंडीगढ़ पुलिस न जाने कहां सो रही थी। कहने को तो चंडीगढ़ शहर के चप्पे-चप्पे पर सीसीटीवी कैमरे लगे हुए हैं। इन कैमरों द्वारा पुलिस ट्रैफिक वायलेशन करने वालों के ऑनलाइन चालान किए जाते हैं। 

अब देखना यह होगा कि जिस थार जीप पर पटाखे रखकर जलाए गए थे क्या उस थार जीप का नंबर चंडीगढ़ पुलिस के सीसीटीवी कैमरों में नहीं आया ?  जो कि अब पुलिस जांच का एक विषय है।  

AAP workers on Sunday, gathered from various parts of Punjab, wanted to "gherao" the office of the Punjab BJP in Sector 37 to register their protest against the party-led Central government. There were barricades put up to stop the protesters and a heavy deployment of police was made to prevent from heading towards the Punjab BJP office.

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Looking at the situation going out of hand, Police used water cannon when AAP workers tried to force their way towards the BJP office, an official said. Carrying party flags, AAP workers shouted slogans against the BJP government over the Adani issue.

AAP MLA Jagdeep Kamboj from the Jalalabad constituency slammed the BJP alleging that it has failed on all fronts.

Later, police detained several party leaders and workers.

Earlier speaking to reporters at the party office, AAP leader Harchand Singh Barsat alleged that the Adani Group's fortunes rose under the BJP rule.

Another AAP leader, Sunny Ahluwalia, said the party will continue to raise its voice over this issue.

Adani Group stocks had taken a beating on the bourses after US-based activist short-seller Hindenburg Research made a litany of allegations, including fraudulent transactions and share price manipulation, against the Gautam Adani-led group, which has dismissed the allegations as lies.

Opposition parties have been demanding a joint parliamentary committee probe into the issue.

According to information, Mayor Sarbjit Kaur had called the General House meeting, the last of her tenure, on Thursday. Soon after the meeting began, Opposition councillors started created ruckus and cornered BJP workers, including the Mayor, on many key issues.

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Mayor Sarbjit Kaur had to call marshals, who then took AAP and Congress councillors out of the House. The councillors described the marshals as "BJP goons".

Notably, AAP, Congress councillors have been opposing the UT Administration's plan to levy charges for 18 services ( free for all at present) offered through Sampark Centres from January 1. 

The Mayor said the opposition councillors had been creating commotion only for "photo session", which infuriated the former. 

She also asked them to go and sit on their chairs, but Congress and AAP insisted that  they would not allow the House to function until answer is given regarding tax being imposed on certain services.

AAP councillor Prem Lata accused the Mayor of providing benefits to private companies.

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Another AAP councillor, Damanpreet, alleged that the Mayor had promised that water rates in the city would not be increased. Despite this, water rates had been raised and sewerage tax had also been added to it.

Councillors suspended for a day
Mayor Sarbjit Kaur suspended Chandigarh AAP councillors Anju Katyal, Damanpreet, Munavar and Ram Chander Yadav and Congress councillor Jasbir Singh for a day.

The councillors were taken out of the House by the marshals after they did not let the House function.

Chandigarh MC election result 2021: Winners list

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- Advocate Harpal Singh Cheema (@Advocate_Harpal_Singh_Cheema) 27 Dec 2021

Chandigarh MC election 2021: Areas-wise wards list

Chandigarh MC election result 2021 highlights:

The Shiromani Akali Dal President had announced on Friday that the senior leaders of the party would court arrest in front of the chief minister’s residence.

“This will be followed by a ‘Jail Bharo’ Andolan at the district level,” he had said. Meanwhile, Bikram Singh Majithia slammed the Punjab Government over several issues.

Giving details of the second conspiracy hatched by the Congress party within days of failure of the plan to register a false case against Majithia, Sukhbir Singh Badal said that “We have definite information that the chief minister has ordered the State DGP to register a false case against Majithia."

"This has been done after the chief minister held a meeting with the PCC chief Navjot Singh Sidhu and Home Minister Sukhjinder Randhawa,” he added.

Stating that the chief minister and his cabinet colleagues and other officials involved in the conspiracy were committing a criminal offence, the SAD President said that "all of them were liable for prosecution”.

He also announced that the SAD-BSP alliance would establish a commission to probe all false cases once it assumed power in the State even as he demanded that the entire drugs case be probed under the direct supervision of a sitting judge of the Punjab and Haryana high court.