The UT Chandigarh Administration on Friday announced that the mayoral elections in the city would be held on January 29.
Breaking from the earlier practice of secret ballot, the elections will now be conducted through a “Show of Hands,” with councillors openly deciding the fate of candidates for the posts of mayor, senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor.
Under Section 60(a) of the Punjab Municipal Corporation Act, 1976, Councillor Dr Ramneek Singh Bedi, who is not contesting the election, has been designated as a Presiding Authority for the meeting.
According to the Standard Operating Procedure (SoP), councillors must raise their hands clearly when their choice is called. Votes will be counted through visual verification and verbal confirmation, with proper documentation maintained in a “Register of Votes” and recorded in the “Minutes of the Meeting” to prevent disputes.
Deputy Commissioner Nishant Yadav, another Prescribed Authority for the polls, reviewed the arrangements and emphasised that “the proceedings would continuously be video-graphed without editing. The recordings will be preserved for at least 90 days, and media coverage or live feed will be permitted to ensure transparency”.
The announcement has, meanwhile, stirred a political debate. Chandigarh Congress president H S Lucky declared that his party would approach the UT Administrator to demand “the elections be held earlier”.
Congress spokesperson Rajiv Sharma said the delay would shorten the mayor’s one-year tenure, especially with the General Municipal Corporation elections scheduled later this year. Sharma warned that postponement could encourage horse-trading, pointing to the recent defection of two AAP councillors, Poonam and Suman Sharma, to the BJP. Their move raised the BJP’s strength to 18 councillors, leaving the AAP with 11 and the Congress with six.
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With Congress MP Manish Tewari’s vote also counting in the mayoral polls, both camps — the BJP and the Congress-AAP alliance — now stand evenly matched at 18 votes each.
The BJP, meanwhile, welcomed new joinings, with its city president Jatinder Pal Malhotra attributing the development to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s policies.
AAP city unit president Vijay Pal Singh responded by noting that “politics is full of ups and downs”. Meanwhile, the Congress confirmed that it would “contest the mayoral polls in a tactical alliance with AAP”.
2021 MC elections
In 2021, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) emerged as the largest party, winning 14 seats. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) followed with 12 seats, while the Congress secured eight seats. The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) won one ward, but its councillor later joined the AAP. Since then, the BJP has achieved three mayoral victories.
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In 2024, AAP candidate Kuldeep Kumar was declared mayor by the Supreme Court after he alleged electoral malpractice by returning officer Anil Masih. Initially, BJP’s Manoj Sonkar had been declared the winner, defeating Kumar 16-12, but resigned soon after, while three AAP councillors defected to the BJP.
.In 2025, BJP’s Harpreet Babla defeated AAP’s Prem Lata by 19-17, despite the AAP-Congress alliance having a numerical edge. A total of 36 votes were cast, including that of MP Manish Tewari, who is an ex officio member of the House.The BJP won the poll battle despite the AAP-Congress alliance having 20 councillors, while the BJP had 16.