Ludhiana, Aug. 7 -- In a significant setback to the Ludhiana municipal corporation's (MC's) leadership, the Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) has ordered fresh elections for two councillor posts in the Finance and Contracts Committee (F&CC) after the Punjab Government declared the mayor's nominations to the panel legally invalid.

The directions came during the hearing of a petition challenging the appointments, when the municipal corporation informed the court that the local government department had withdrawn its approval to Resolution Number 106, passed on March 24, after finding it contrary to the provisions of the Punjab Municipal Corporation Act, 1976.

In an August 1 communication, the deputy director, local government, clarified ...