Chandigarh, May 22 -- The transport department has announced a fresh round of e-auction for fancy and special registration numbers for vehicles, opening bids for the new CH01DE series while also putting unsold premium numbers from previous series back on the block.

The city sees intense bidding wars for VIP numbers, with several high-profile buyers shelling out lakhs to secure '0001' and other premium combinations. During the last auction held in March, former mayor and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Davesh Moudgil brought the CH01-DD-0001 number for a whopping Rs.54 lakh. This is the highest-ever bid recorded for a vehicle registration number since auctioning of fancy numbers began in Chandigarh in 2002.

Registrations for t...