City mayor Kuldeep Kumar Dhalor on Wednesday again requested deputy commissioner (DC) Nishant Yadav to postpone the upcoming elections for the posts of mayor, senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor and conduct them after February 19.

The DC has already announced the elections for January 24.

“The elections to the post of mayor for the year 2024 were concluded after the intervention of Supreme Court on February 20. Not even one year has elapsed since their conclusion. It is therefore requested that the elections may kindly be postponed as the delay in conducting the first meeting, last year, was on the part of the official respondents/misdeeds of the presiding authority,” Dhalor wrote in the letter.

He added, “I had brought to your notice that my tenure will get completed on February 19, and without paying heed to my previous requests and letters, the elections have now been scheduled to be conducted on January 24. Thus, grave injustice would be caused to me if the elections are not postponed. The mayor’s role is crucial for ensuring sustained development and proper implementation of policies, as well as in maintaining administrative efficiency in the city. Frequent changes in leadership can hinder the progress of ongoing projects and disrupt the administrative machinery.”

Requesting the DC to consider postponing the elections until the completion of a full one-year term of the current mayor, Dhalor said this would not only ensure fairness and continuity but also uphold the dignity and purpose of the office of the mayor.

On January 3, a delegation from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), led by Dhalor, had met the DC, urging that the elections be held in February.

AAP has also moved the Punjab and Haryana high court, seeking directions to the Chandigarh administration to take steps for ensuring transparency during the January 24 mayoral polls. AAP councillor from ward number 25 and party spokesperson Yogesh Dhingra filed a plea on January 9, demanding that in place of voting by secret ballots, polling be done by “show of hands”.

AAP has a sitting mayor in the MC House with the support of Congress, its INDIA bloc partner. They have announced an alliance this time also. Currently, the alliance boasts 21 votes in the MC House — 13 from AAP, seven from Congress and one ex-officio vote of MP Manish Tewari. The BJP, on the other hand, has only 15 votes. A party needs 19 votes to win the poll.

Fill-up 1,800 regular posts of MTS: Dhalor writes to Kataria

Mayor Dhalor wrote another letter to Punjab governor and UT administrator Gulab Chand Kataria on Wednesday and requested to fill up the 1,800 regular posts of multi-tasking staff (MTS) in Chandigarh MC as per rules.

In the letter, the mayor stated, “Prior to the year 2009, the posts of peon were filled up on a regular basis in the Chandigarh MC, and thereafter, the Chandigarh administration had decided that the workers for the posts of peon may be outsourced. Further, the department of personnel, in 2014, had issued instructions that all group ‘D’ posts, as and when they became vacant, will be filled up through outsourcing after following a proper procedure. The Central Civil Services had come into force in 2022, and the UT administration, in 2023, had notified the ‘The Union Territory of Chandigarh Employees (Revised Pay) Rules, 2023,’ whereby all group ‘D’ posts in Chandigarh were upgraded to MTS.”