Last year, Kuldeep Kumar was elected mayor after the order of the Supreme Court.
The political game of Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has surprised everyone. On one hand, Congress and AAP are contesting assembly elections against each other in Delhi. Their leaders are cursing each other. Both of them were seen together in the mayor election of Chandigarh, 260 KM away.
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Last year also he had made Chandigarh its mayor. After which Congress’s Manish Tiwari has been made MP in the Lok Sabha elections also. Today, Monday (20 January) is the last date for nomination for mayor.
AAP became the largest party in the corporation Elections for Chandigarh Corporation were held in December 2021. Aam Aadmi Party contested elections for the first time and became the largest party by winning 14 wards in Chandigarh Municipal Corporation with 35 wards. BJP was at second place with 13 seats. Congress won 7 seats and Akali Dal won one seat.
INDIA block won the first election in Chandigarh During this period, Congress along with anti-BJP parties had formed INDIA Block. When it came to the mayor elections, AAP with 14 councilors and Congress with 7 councilors came together. It was decided that the Mayor will be from Aam Aadmi Party while the Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor will be from Congress. BJP had only 13 councilors, they also had one MP vote but due to AAP Congress having 14 votes against 20, they were out of the mayor election.
This picture is of the mayor elections held in 2024. Election officer Anil Masih had ticked the ballot. AAP and Congress had reached the Supreme Court regarding this.
BJP won in mayor election due to election officer’s error After this, mayor elections were held in 2023. AAP-Congress had a direct majority in this. But the election officer alleged that nominated councilor Anil Masih made a mistake. When voting took place, Masih declared the votes of 8 councilors of AAP-Congress invalid. Due to which AAP mayor candidate Kuldeep Kumar lost the election. Then, by including the votes of 13 BJP councilors, MPs and Akali Dal, BJP’s Manoj Sonkar, who got 16 votes, was declared the winner.
Case reached Supreme Court, then AAP became mayor AAP went to the Supreme Court against this. When the Supreme Court saw the CCTV footage of the election time, election officer Anil Masih was found marking the votes of AAP-Congress councilors. The court admitted that Masih deliberately spoiled the votes. After this, the Supreme Court asked for recounting of votes, in which it also ordered counting of invalid votes. After this Kuldeep Kumar of AAP became the mayor.
This picture is after the Supreme Court’s decision. Mayor Kuldeep Kumar (centre) was fed sweets by AAP workers.
Mayor elections are held every year in Chandigarh. In Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, councilors are elected for 5 years but the Mayor goes for election every year. Along with these, Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor are also elected. Reservation for the post of Mayor is also fixed for 5 years. Mayor seats are reserved for general candidates in the first year, women in the second year, OBC in the third year, women in the fourth year and general candidates in the fifth year. This time a woman will become mayor here. However, no party has declared its candidate yet. But the names of Harpreet Kaur from BJP and Prem Lata from AAP are being discussed. Six women councilors of AAP have presented their claim.
