Chandigarh, June 24 (PTI) Election to the posts of mayor, senior deputy mayor, and deputy mayor of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation can now be held by a show of hands instead of a secret ballot.

Punjab Governor and Administrator of the Union Territory of Chandigarh, Gulab Chand Kataria, on Tuesday approved an amendment to Regulation 6 of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation (Procedure and Conduct of Business) Regulations, 1996.

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"With this amendment, the mayor, senior deputy mayor, and deputy mayor will now be elected through a show of hands instead of the earlier secret ballot method," said an official statement here.

Kataria said the new system will bring greater transparency in the election process and make the role of elected representatives clearer and accountable.

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He expressed hope that this change will help improve the functioning and governance of the municipal corporation and will further strengthen trust in democratic processes.

The amendment was earlier passed in the House meeting of the Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh.

It was proposed under the legal powers granted by Section 398(2) of the Punjab Municipal Corporation Act, 1976 (as extended to the Union Territory of Chandigarh under the Chandigarh UT Act, 1994).

The proposal was then sent to the Administrator for approval, which has now been formally granted.

A controversy had erupted during the 2024 mayoral polls when the then presiding officer, Anil Masih, was caught on camera invalidating eight ballot papers which were in favour of the AAP-Congress.

The matter had then reached the Supreme Court, which overturned the result of the Chandigarh mayoral poll in which the BJP candidate had won.

The apex court declared AAP's Kuldeep Kumar the mayor of the Chandigarh MC.

Meanwhile, Chandigarh Congress president H S Lucky welcomed the decision and thanked the Administrator for this step.

He said the Chandigarh Congress and MP Manish Tewari had been demanding for allowing voting by showing of hands.

"This will pave the way for cleaner politics and help in enhancing the image of Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh and its councillors who constantly face charges of horse trading," he said in a statement.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)