Barinder Saluja, Chandigarh ,Jan. 4 : The 2011 Mayoral elections result went on to a nail biting finish till the last vote was counted. It was that last vote which declared the Congress candidate Ravinder Pal Singh “Palli” as the next Mayor of Chandigarh for the year 2011. Congress sweeped the polls this time too by winning all the three seats. Ravinder Pal Singh Palli defeated the rebel independent candidate Jagjit Singh Kang, by a margin of just one vote, who resigned from congress a few days before the elections. Elections for the post of Mayor, Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor were held. For the post of Mayor , total 35 votes were polled out of which 17 went to Ravinder Pal Singh Palli and 16 went to Jagjit Singh Kang. Same thing happened for the post of Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor, where Congress candidate Kuldeep Singh received 20 votes defeating BJP candidate Anil Dubey who got 15 votes; for Deputy Mayor Sheela Phool Singh of Congress defeated BJP councilor Sarita Devi, again by one vote with 17 to 16 votes.
Thought the opposition party BJP termed the elections as “illegal” and cried as foul play over results and decided to challenge it in the court. This is the fourth consecutive year that the congress will have its Mayor in the house. Though the ousted congress candidate Jagjit Singh Kang when decided to contest as independent candidate, was fully supported by the all other opposition parties as BJP, Akali Dal & BSP withdrew their candidature and declared to support in all strength to Jagjit Singh Kang with a view to oust congress from Mayoral Hierarchy.
The hue & cry about the foul pay in the election results started when the presiding officer Brig. Kuldeep Singh Chandpuri (Retd) announced that the mobile phones with cameras will not be allowed inside the polling boothas it was objected by other councillors that some of the voters have been taking the pictures of the ballot paper while casting their vote. But Union Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal ogjected to this announcement and took his cell phone inside the polling booth while casting his vote. Later when results were declared BJP and allies cried foul play in the elections and termed it as “illegal”. Later police had to intervene to bring the situation under normalcy.