Chandigarh July 27, 2011: Sh. Brijender Singh Deputy Commissioner Chandigarh today dismissed an application filed by Sh. Ravinder Pal Singh Palli, Mayor Chandigarh seeking permission of the court to produce 2 more Congress (I) councilors, namely Sh. Pardip Chhabra & Sh. B.S. Badheri as his witnesses in the trial of election petition, filed by Sh. Jagjit Singh Kang, challenging the validity of the election of Sh. Palli as mayor of Chandigarh on 1.1.2011.
It may be mentioned that Sh. Kang has challenged the election of Sh.Palli on the ground that, on the day of election, inspite of the ruling by the chairman that no member of the corporation is allowed to take his mobile phone with him while going to cast his vote in the polling booth, Sh. Pawan Kumar Bansal Union Parliamentary affairs minister contemptuously violated the ruling and asked the Congress (I) councilors to take the mobile with them, click the photo of the ballot paper on their mobile and later show it to him to confirm that they have voted for Mr. Palli. In this way the principle of Secrecy was violated.Mr. Roshan Lal Batta, Senior Advocate with Mr. Kashmira Singh Counsels for the Mayor submitted that the examination of both Mr. Chhabra & Mr. Badheri is necessary for the proper adjudication of the case. He said that the applicant by producing these witnesses wants to rebut the statements of Smt. Harjinder Kaur, Dr. A.P. Sanwaria and Sh. Pallav Mukherji who have appeared as witness of Sh. Rajesh Gupta respondent No.2.
Sh. Satya Pal Jain, Senior Advocate with Sh. Dheeraj Jain counsel for Mr. Kang, opposing the application submitted that the name of Mr. Badheri did not appear in the list of witnesses filed by Mr. Palli and Mr. Chhabra, whose’s name was there in the list, was dropped by Mr. Palli’s counsel himself on 29-06-2011. Therefore they cannot be permitted to appear as witnesses of Mr. Palli at this stage. He said that the application has been moved only to delay the trial of the election petition.
After dismissing the application, the DC fixed the main case for arguments on August 2, 2011, since the evidence of all the parties has already been concluded