The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday issued notices to the Chandigarh administration and the municipal corporation in response to the Aam Aadmi Party’s petition seeking fresh elections under the supervision of a retired High Court judge.

After considering the entire matter, the Punjab and Haryana High Court granted three weeks’ time to the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation and Chandigarh Administration to file their replies. The next hearing on this matter is scheduled for February 26.

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In a major setback for the AAP-Congress alliance, the BJP emerged victorious in the Chandigarh mayoral polls on January 30. Alleging foul play, the AAP-Congress alliance moved the high court, leading to the court issuing notices.

The petition was filed by AAP councillor Kuldeep Kumar, the mayoral candidate, against the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation and the Union Territory administration. After the hearing, the petitioner’s counsel, Gurminder Singh, informed reporters that the court has given three weeks for the Chandigarh administration, the municipal corporation, and others to file their replies. Senior standing counsel Anil Mehta clarified that the court did not grant any interim relief to the petitioner.

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In the plea, Kumar seeks to annul the election process of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation’s mayor, alleging “complete fraud and forgery.” Additionally, he has requested instructions to prevent the newly elected mayor from performing the mayoral functions, contending that the entire election process was “vitiated by fraud.”

Despite predictions of an easy victory by the Congress and the AAP in the 35-member House of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, the BJP retained all three top posts contested in the elections. Opposition councillors accused presiding officer Anil Masih of tampering with the ballot papers, a claim rejected by both Masih and the BJP.

Following the defeat, Youth Congress members staged a protest outside the Mayor’s office in Chandigarh on Wednesday, escalating tensions and increasing the rift between the protestors and the police at the scene. Youth Congress workers were heard chanting the slogan ‘Bhrastachar band karo’ (Stop corruption). However, the police detained the protestors after a while.

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Chaos ensued on Tuesday as the Aam Aadmi Party and Congress alleged electoral “malpractices” by the BJP, while the BJP considered the “victory” as another blow for the INDIA bloc.


In the mayoral race, BJP’s Manoj Sonkar defeated AAP-Congress candidate Kuldeep Singh with 16 votes to Singh’s 12 votes, while eight votes were declared invalid. AAP and Congress subsequently filed a petition in the Punjab-Haryana High Court, expressing concerns over the integrity of the recently conducted mayoral elections in Chandigarh.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi launched a strong criticism against the BJP in light of the controversial Chandigarh mayoral election results, drawing parallels between Tuesday’s events and the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi by Nathuram Godse on this day 76 years ago.

In a post on X, Rahul stated, “It is beyond imagination what the BJP, which can kill democracy in front of the whole world in the mayoral elections, will do to remain in power in Delhi.”



Furthermore, Punjab Chief Minister and AAP leader Bhagwant Mann declared that today’s events would be written and remembered as ‘ black day’ in the democracy of the nation.