AUTHOR VINAY KOCHHAR.CHANDIGARH.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has finally put a writ on the mayor’s chair in Amritsar Municipal Corporation. The High Court, while hearing the writ of councillor Vikas Soni, has issued a notice to the Punjab government. Now the next hearing of the case has been fixed on 17 February. The High Court has asked the government to present its side during the next hearing. In such a situation, the government will now have to prove that it had the full majority to make a mayor in Amritsar. If this does not happen, the mayorship can be rejected by the High Court.
Congress Councillor and mayoral contender Vikas Soni said that the current Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has imposed a mayor on the city by force without conducting voting and without proving its majority. In such a situation, he had to resort to the High Court. But he has full faith in the High Court and truth will win. Soni said that the Congress party has the majority and they will prove it during the next hearing.
Corporation elections were held on 21 December 2024. During this time, 41 councillors of Congress, 24 of AAP, four of Akali Dal and nine of BJP won. After this, the lobbying continued for more than a month and a meeting was held for the election of the mayor on 27 January 2025. During the meeting, AAP directly announced the names of its mayor, deputy mayor and senior deputy mayor. After this, a sit-in was held by the Congress and during this time a writ was also filed in the High Court on behalf of Vikas Soni.