Congress councillors move HC against Jaitu MC chief’s election

FARIDKOT: Five Congress councilors are among the 11 newly elected members who have challenged the May 7 election of Surjit Singh Baba as the Jaitu municipal council president in the Punjab and Haryana high court, demanding that the election be set aside since he doesn’t enjoy trust of the majority members.

The high court has treated the civil writ petition as urgent and fixed the hearing for May 19.

The Congress had won nine of the 17 seats in the civic body elections held in February. The petition was filed by five Congress councillors, three independents, two of Shiromani

Akali Dal and one belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party, alleging that Baba’s appointment was made in an unjust and unfair manner.

“The name of Baba was announced by cabinet minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu from an envelope claiming it is an order of the Congress high command,” the petitioners alleged.

The petitioners said they immediately raised an objection inside the House after Baba’s name was announced. “Ten elected members of three different parties along with Jaitu MLA Baldev Singh submitted a written complaint to the chief secretary, chief justice of Punjab and Haryana high court and chief election officer,” they added.

On May 7, the election for the office-bearers of Jaitu municipal council was held amid high drama, with a faction of Congress councillors backed by Faridkot member parliament Mohammad Sadiq opposed the appointment of Baba. One of the petitioners, Suman Devi of the Congress, is backed by Sadiq, while Baba has the support of Faridkot MLA Kushaldeep Singh Dhillon. Suman was nominated as senior vice-president but she staked claim on the president’s post.

MP Sadiq said that out of 17 councillors, Suman had the support of 10 but Baba was still named the president. “This is totally unconstitutional, MLA of another area should not interfere in the affairs of my constituency,” he added.