In a scathing rebuke, the Supreme Court of India on Monday slammed the returning officer responsible for conducting the Chandigarh mayoral elections, accusing him of defacing ballot papers to influence the results.

A bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud, along with Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, condemned this conduct as a “mockery of democracy.”

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“It is obvious that he has defaced the ballot papers. He needs to be prosecuted. Why is he looking at the camera? Mr Solicitor, this is a mockery of democracy and murdering democracy. We are appalled. Is this behaviour of a returning officer? Wherever there is a cross at bottom, he does not touch it and when it is at the top he alters it. Please tell returning officer that Supreme Court is watching him,” CJI Chandrachud said, according to Bar and Bench.

The Supreme Court issued a notice to Returning Officer Anil Masih and directed the sequestration of all records related to the municipal elections with the High Court Registrar General. The court also ordered the preservation of ballots and videography of the election proceedings.

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As a temporary measure, the Court effectively stayed any activities related to the Municipal Corporation, deferring the ensuing meeting until the next week. The decision followed a plea by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor Kuldeep Kumar, challenging the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s refusal to immediately stay the election result, where a BJP candidate was declared the Chandigarh Mayor.

The Chandigarh mayor polls were carried out on January 30 in which BJP’s Manoj Sonkar secured the mayoral position with 16 votes, while the Congress-AAP candidate Kumar received 12 votes. Despite the AAP-Congress alliance having a majority in the house with 20 members, eight votes from the alliance were rejected as invalid.

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Kumar alleged fraud in the BJP’s victory and forgery in the rejection of the eight votes. The Supreme Court took up Kumar’s plea after the Punjab and Haryana High Court issued notice but listed the matter for hearing after three weeks.

Kumar, in his petition, accused the Presiding Officer Anil Masih of refusing to allow party nominees to monitor the vote counting. The plea further claimed that video evidence revealed the officer’s deliberate attempt to create confusion and compromise the election process through forgery and tampering.

The petitioner sought a stay on the notification appointing Sonkar as the Mayor and requested a fresh election under the supervision of a retired High Court judge. The case has garnered attention for its potential impact on the democratic process and the integrity of electoral procedures.