Jagjit Kang files petition against mayoral election

The Mayoral elections were held on January 1,where Pali had been declared the winner. Kang,who was contesting as an independent candidate with the support of the Opposition parties including the BJP,Akali Dal and BSP lost the election by one vote.

The petitioner has demanded that the election of Pali as the Mayor be set aside and Kang be declared the duly elected Mayor. It further says that the DC should summon the records of the case and seal it.

Kang,along with his lawyers and senior BJP leader Satya Pal Jain,who is the in charge of the legal and legislative cell of the party,submitted the petition with the Deputy Commissioner. They were accompanied by other lawyers including Dheeraj Jain,Davesh Moudgil and Arun Sood.

The petition states that Kang was a member of the Congress. However,because of rampant corruption in the working of the Congress-ruled Corporation,engineered and encouraged by various leaders of the party,the petitioner resigned from the party and decided to contest for the post of the Mayor as an independent. The BJP,Akali Dal and BSP announced their support to his candidature.

The petition further says that Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and Water Resources Pawan Kumar Bansal could not reconcile with the petitioner leaving the Congress and contesting as an independent and made it his prestige issue to defeat the petitioner. He with the active connivance of Pali,he asked the Congress councillors to take their mobile phones with them,cast their votes in favour of the Congress candidate and click a photo of the ballot paper.

They openly flouted the principle of secrecy of vote,the petition stated. At the start of the meeting where the election was to be held,the presiding officer announced that all members may put their mobiles in the envelope and keep it on their table when they go to cast their vote. The petition says that Bansal objected to the ruling of the Chair.

In a complete contemptuous attitude to the Chair and in total disregard of the principle of secrecy,he proceeded to cast his vote and took his mobile phone. Thereafter,the Congress councillors took their mobile phones inside the polling booth and took pictures of the ballot paper after marking it in favour of the Congress candidate,the petition says.

It also mentions that a number of invalid votes were counted in favour of Pali. At least 10 Congress councillors were asked to vote in favour of the Congress candidate. If this was not done,Kang would have been the winner,it claims.