The State Election Commission has appointed eight observers to supervise the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation elections across all 35 wards, while also notifying rules for election-symbol allotment, reservation and candidate applications.
Four general observers have been assigned to separate ward clusters. IAS officer Swapnil M Naik will oversee wards 1 to 8, D Karthikeyan wards 9 to 16, Mohamed Mansoor L wards 17 to 24, and Pardeep Kumar wards 25 to 35. Anup Kumar Soni, IFS, and Dr Syed Abid Rasheed Shah, IAS, have been kept in reserve as general observers.
The commission has appointed four expenditure observers for the same ward groupings. Suresh Kumar will monitor wards 1 to 8, Surinder Pal Singh wards 9 to 16, Rajan Dev Sharma wards 17 to 24, and Pardeep Chopra wards 25 to 35. Rajesh Gupta and Seema Sharma have been designated as reserve expenditure observers.
The arrangement separates general supervision from expenditure monitoring across the city’s electoral map. The general observers will oversee the assigned ward groups, while expenditure observers will monitor election-related spending in those areas. The appointments provide a ward-wise administrative structure for the conduct of the municipal polls.
In a separate order published in the Chandigarh Administration Gazette on November 12, the commission listed the reserved symbols for six national parties. The Aam Aadmi Party has been allotted the broom, the Bahujan Samaj Party the elephant, the Bharatiya Janata Party the lotus, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) the hammer, sickle and star, the Congress the hand, and the National People’s Party the book.
The order also sets out the procedure for parties recognised as state parties in states other than Chandigarh. Such parties may seek their respective reserved symbols if they meet the prescribed conditions and apply to the State Election Commission within three days of publication of the election notification. Their candidates will be required to submit 10 proposers, compared with one proposer for candidates of national parties.
Candidates belonging to registered but unrecognised political parties will be treated on a par with Independents for symbol allotment. They will not receive preference over Independent candidates. Independent candidates may indicate three preferred symbols from a list of 184 free symbols, after which the returning officer will allot a symbol as far as practicable.
If more than one candidate seeks the same free symbol, the allotment will be decided through a draw of lots. The notified rules and observer appointments establish the administrative framework that candidates and parties must follow as the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation election process moves forward.
