The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will compete against an INDIA alliance of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress in today’s mayoral election of Chandigarh. A three-layer barricade is protecting the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, and an extensive police deployment, including about 800 police officers and additional paramilitary forces, has been organized for what is expected to be the first confrontation between the NDA and the INDIA bloc prior to the general elections.
The Chandigarh government rescheduled the mayoral elections from January 18 to February 6 because the presiding officer, Anil Masih, became ill. However, Congress and AAP council members objected to this action. Mr. Masih, the individual who had apparent health issues, was reappointed as the presiding authority.

The Chandigarh administration was instructed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in its order dated January 24 to hold the mayoral elections today, nullifying the previous postponement that was deemed “unreasonable, unjustified, and arbitrary.” The court emphasized the importance of free and fair elections and made it illegal for council members to be accompanied by outside supporters or security guards.

The AAP-Congress alliance seeks to break the BJP’s eight-year rule. 

Voting is set to begin at 10 am. The Congress abstained from voting in 2022 and 2023, resulting in the BJP’s victory in those polls. The election process for the mayor’s position is conducted through a secret ballot.

The Mayor’s seat reserved for the Scheduled Caste category has two candidates, Mr. Kumar from the AAP and Manoj Sonkar from the BJP. While Rajinder Sharma of the BJP and Nirmala Devi of the Congress will compete for the deputy mayor post, Kuljeet Sandhu of the BJP will take on Gurpreet Singh Gabi of the Congress for the senior deputy mayor post.