The municipal corporation House on Tuesday deferred the election to two vacant Finance and Contracts Committee (F&CC) seats to August 29 after councillors clashed over the voting mode before unanimously opting for a secret ballot.
The House eventually agreed to conduct the election through secret ballot, with nominations to be filed by 5 pm on Tuesday. The court directed the civic body to hold a fair election in the House before September 11. The civic body had subsequently sought an earlier date of August 25, citing pending development works and arguing that a functioning F&CC would help expedite them. The August 29 election will also be held under videography to ensure transparency. The election through the secret ballot will be conducted in accordance with the Municipal Act, 1976, the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business and the directions of the high court.
The brief ruckus erupted after Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillors sought voting by show of hands, while opposition councillors demanded a secret ballot. Leaders of the opposition Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also gave their consent to secret-ballot voting. The election assumes significance as the two councillor seats in the F&CC have remained vacant after the Punjab and Haryana high court set aside the mayor’s nominations of the sons of two sitting AAP legislators. As per the high court’s directions, Tuesday’s House meeting was conducted under videography. We are committed to conducting fair and transparent elections.”
The civic body said the decision was taken unanimously after “detailed deliberations” on the election process. Mayor Inderjit Kaur said, “The decision to conduct elections through secret ballot has been taken unanimously in the general house meeting held on Tuesday.
