By R.K.Garg
(MOREPIC1)In the 25 years of existence of MC Chandigarh, the 2021 elections unprecedented results came; two old parties got the similar percentage of votes and new entrants got 27% of the vote share.
In the final results, BJP got the setback in getting only 12 seats out of increased total membership of 35. Congress doubled its tally but finished third in the rank. Though pocketing the maximum votes. The new entrant though finished third in the voting percentage surprised by getting the highest number of seats in the new MC. From day 1, the political parties have been making efforts to keep their folk into their closest control.
The mayor elections were scheduled for 8th January 2022 in which neck and neck competition between the ruling and the new entrant was scheduled. Surprisingly the congress party which got the highest percentage of vote from the people and the lone Akali dal counsellor surprised everybody by abstaining from voting in Mayor elections.
In democratic setup, people elect their representative to present their views in the house so elected but these two parties did not respect the mandate. The other two parties who managed equal votes for mayor elections and the ruling party managed to win the mayor elections on the basis of an invalid vote. That simply means BJP got the post of mayor not on the basis of Majority votes but on the technical grounds. In the other elections for Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor, BJP got through only with the help of cross voting and the draw held.(SUBHEAD)
As a resident it is observed that the ruling party does not have clear mandate of people and the party which has the maximum numbers does not have majority in the house. In an unprecedented incident police had to enter the house and had to control the situation.
In the entire scenario it is observed that none of the three major political parties had faith in their elected counsellor as they had to keep them roaming at various places. So much so, the Congress remained out of the city and abstained even on the day of mayor elections. As such, the democratic process has been badly weakened and fractured mandate, cross voting will hamper the conduct of the house in the entire tenure of the house. Already Chandigarh is going from bad to worse and in the above circumstances, this UT will suffer a lot.
In the end we call all the residents of UT to think and discuss the above scenario and decide to press upon elected representatives to rise and conduct the house for the welfare of the people. From the whole scenario, people are feeling cheated as the party which has got less than one third of the vote will be ruling the remaining 70% of the residents. And such activities which happened yesterday duly discouraged the people from participating in the election process. Whereas all political parties need to do introspection People also should think over this very seriously