Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Manoj Sonkar on Sunday resigned from the position of Chandigarh Mayor ahead of the Supreme Court’s hearing on allegations of irregularities in the vote-counting process during the Chandigarh mayoral polls,as reported by ANI.
The Supreme Court had earlier reprimanded the Returning Officer (RO) responsible for the Mayor elections on February 5, accusing him of undermining democracy. The court ordered the preservation of the entire record of the election process, including ballot papers, videography, and other materials.
A bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, along with Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, expressed strong disapproval of the defacement of ballot papers by the Returning Officer.
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“Is this the way he conducts the elections? This is a mockery of democracy. This is the murder of democracy. We are appalled. We will not allow democracy to be murdered this way. The man defaces ballots the moment he sees a cross at the bottom. This man should be prosecuted. Is this the behaviour of the returning officer?” the bench said while directing the postponement of the scheduled Chandigarh Corporation meeting on February 7 until further instructions.
“Tell the Returning Officer that the Supreme Court is watching him. We will not allow democracy to be murdered like this. The great force in this country is the purity of the electoral process, but what has happened here?” the bench questioned.
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The video evidence of the controversial election played a crucial role in the court’s observations. The court directed the deferment of the Chandigarh Corporation meeting, originally scheduled for February 7, until further orders.
In response to these developments, Manoj Sonkar took the step of resigning from his position as Chandigarh Mayor. The Supreme Court’s remarks followed allegations of vote tampering by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Congress after the BJP won the mayoral election. There were concerns about the rejection of eight votes that were reportedly in favour of the AAP-Congress alliance.
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The court’s decision to hear the plea of AAP’s councillor Kuldeep Dhalor, who lost the mayoral election, adds another layer of significance to the case. Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing Kumar, suggested that holding a fresh election after sequestering the record could resolve the issue.
Sonkar’s resignation was followed by the resignations of three Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillors – Punam Devi, Neha Musawat, and Gurcharan Kala – in Chandigarh who had gone incommunicado three days ago and joined the BJP on Sunday, citing “unhappiness” with the Arvind Kejriwal-led party.