Almost a month after the election of 15 new councillors to the Kharar Municipal Council (MC), the way has been paved for the election of the president and two vice-presidents for the civic body.

Though the Punjab State Election Commission had notified the names of the newly elected municipal councillors on September 17, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had, on a petition challenging the reservation for the offices of municipalities in Punjab, stayed the elections of presidents of any civic body in the state.

As the petition was disposed off recently, with which the stay was vacated, the Punjab Department of Local Government has asked Mohali Deputy Commissioner to take immediate steps to conduct the first meeting of the Kharar MC to administer oath to the newly elected municipal councillors and holding election for the top posts.

Confirming the development, Deputy Commissioner Rahul Bhandari told Newsline that he has appointed Kharar SDM Rajeev Kumar Gupta as convener and directed him to complete the process of administering oath and conducting the election as per rules.

Rule 3(1) of the Punjab Municipal (President and Vice-President) Election Rules, 1994, stipulates 14 days from the date of notification of election for holding the first civic body meeting to elect the president and vice-presidents, besides administering oath to the elected members.

Kharar SDM Rajeev Kumar Gupta said he will soon issue a 48-hour notice to the elected municipal councillors to hold the first meeting of the Kharar MC next week.

Meanwhile, lobbying to grab the top posts has intensified as the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) combine, which had made clean sweep in the MC polls, is yet to announce any name.

The candidates considered strong contenders for the post include SAD’s Gurprem Singh from Ward 4 and Sukhwant Singh, brother of Chamkaur Sahib MLA Charanjit Singh, from Ward 8. Besides, the names of Roshan Lal from Ward 9, who became the seniormost councillor after being elected for the fifth consecutive time and Jai Bhagwan Singla from Ward 15, who was vice-president of the previous MC house are also doing the rounds.

While Gurprem enjoys the patronage of Punjab Cooperation Minister Capt Kanwaljit Singh, Charanjit was perusing the case of Sukhwant as Sukhwant’s wife Paramjit Kaur has also won from Ward 11 to become the first and only councillor couple in Kharar.