The Chandigarh mayoral election will take place today, pitting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) against an alliance of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress. In what will be the first clash between the NDA and the INDIA bloc before the general elections, an extensive police deployment has been arranged, involving around 800 police personnel and additional forces from the paramilitary, with a three-layer barricade securing the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation. 

Originally scheduled for January 18, the mayoral polls were postponed to February 6 by the Chandigarh administration due to the illness of the presiding officer Anil Masih. The decision to defer was also attributed to the prevailing law-and-order situation. However, this move was met with protests from Congress and AAP councillors. Mr Masih, who, despite apparent health issues, was reappointed as the presiding authority.

The Chandigarh Press Club has also appealed to the Centre to permit media coverage of the voting process, despite an initial denial of access to journalists.

In the 35-member Municipal Corporation House, the AAP and Congress alliance hold a combined total of 20 votes, posing a formidable challenge to the BJP’s 15 votes, which includes 14 councillors and the additional vote of MP Kirron Kher. The magic number for victory stands at 19.

The election process has not been without its share of legal hurdles. The Punjab and Haryana High Court, in its January 24 order, directed the Chandigarh administration to conduct the mayoral polls today, quashing the earlier postponement deemed “unreasonable, unjustified, and arbitrary.” The court stressed the need for free and fair elections, prohibiting councillors from being accompanied by supporters or security personnel from other states.

All parties involved have adopted a cautious approach, keeping their councillors on the move before the polling day.

The AAP-Congress alliance has strategically nominated candidates for the various positions. Kuldeep Kumar, representing the AAP, is contesting for the mayoral post, while the Congress is fielding candidates for senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor.

The AAP-Congress alliance seeks to break the BJP’s eight-year rule 

Voting is set to begin at 10 am. The Congress abstained from voting in 2022 and 2023, resulting in the BJP’s victory in those polls. The election process for the mayor’s position is conducted through a secret ballot.

In this year’s elections, the mayor’s seat is reserved for the Scheduled Caste category, with Manoj Sonkar representing the BJP and Mr Kumar from the AAP as the contenders. The senior deputy mayor post will see Kuljeet Sandhu of the BJP facing off against Congress’s Gurpreet Singh Gabi, while the deputy mayor position will be contested between BJP’s Rajinder Sharma and Congress’s Nirmala Devi.

Indian warship INS Sumitra rescued 19 Pakistani sailors after pirates hijacked their fishing vessel off the east coast of Somalia on Monday. This was the second anti-piracy operation carried out by the warship within 36 hours, the Indian Navy said.

Iranian-flagged fishing vessel FV Al Naeemi was boarded by 11 armed pirates who took the 19 crew members – all Pakistanis – hostage. The Navy warship intercepted the fishing vessel and coerced the pirates to release the hostages.

#INSSumitra Carries out 2nd Successful #AntiPiracy Ops – Rescuing 19 Crew members & Vessel from Somali Pirates.
Having thwarted the Piracy attempt on FV Iman, the warship has carried out another successful anti-piracy ops off the East Coast of Somalia, rescuing Fishing Vessel Al… https://t.co/QZz9bCihaU pic.twitter.com/6AonHw51KX

— SpokespersonNavy (@indiannavy) January 30, 2024

“Responding swiftly to the developing situation Sumitra intercepted the FV (fishing vessel) on PM 29 Jan 24 and through coercive posturing and effective deployment of her integral helo and boats compelled the safe release of the crew and the vessel,” the Navy said in a statement

The Navy personnel boarded the vessel subsequently to check on the well-being of the crew.

The swift rescue comes a day after INS Sumitra responded to an SOS call by another Iranian-flagged fishing vessel, FV Iman, which was hijacked by Somali pirates. The vessel’s 17 Iranian crew members were rescued by the Navy.

“INS Sumitra, over the course of less than 36 hours, through swift, persistent and relentless efforts has rescued two hijacked Fishing Vessels along with 36 Crew (17 Iranian and 19 Pakistani) in Southern Arabian Sea approximately 850 nm West of Kochi, and prevented misuse of these Fishing Vessels as Mother Ships for further acts of Piracy on Merchant Vessels,” the official statement said.

INS Sumitra is Indian Navy’s indigenous offshore patrol vessel that has been deployed for anti-piracy and maritime security operations in east of Somalia and Gulf of Aden. 

Earlier, Indian Navy’s guided missile destroyer INS Visakhapatnam, which is currently on an anti-piracy mission, had helped extinguish a massive blaze onboard a merchant vessel after it was struck by a missile in the Gulf of Aden on Saturday night .

A Kerala court on Tuesday sentenced to death 14 persons associated with the now-banned Islamist outfit Popular Front of India (PFI) in connection with the murder of BJP OBC wing leader Ranjith Sreenivasan in this district in December 2021.

The sentence was pronounced by Mavelikkara Additional District judge V G Sreedevi.

The prosecution had sought the maximum sentence for the convicts, saying that they were a “trained killer squad” and the cruel and diabolical manner in which the victim was killed in front of his mother, infant, and wife brings it within the ambit of the “rarest of the rarest” of crimes.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)