The Supreme Court on Tuesday set aside the results of the Chandigarh mayoral elections as declared by the Returning Officer Anil Masih on January 30 as unlawful and declared AAP candidate Kuldeep Kumar as the rightful winner of the Chandigarh mayoral election. Holding the Presiding Officer guilty of misdemeanour, the top court declared AAP candidate Kuldeep Kumar as the validly elected candidate of the post of Mayor of Chandigarh Municipal Corporation.
“This Court is duty bound to ensure that the democratic process is not set at naught by such subterfuges. We are therefore of the view that the Court must step in such exceptional circumstances to ensure that the basic democratic mandate is ensured… The petitioner is declared to be the validly elected candidate for the post of Mayor of Chandigarh Municipal Corporation,” the court ordered, as reported by Live Law.
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The court further said that it was evident that the Presiding Officer made a deliberate attempt to deface 8 ballots which were cast in favour of the petitioner so that the 8th respondent be declared as the elected candidate, the top court observed.
“The conduct of the Presiding Officer has to be deprecated at two levels. Firstly, he has unlawfully altered the course of Mayoral election. Secondly, in making a solemn statement before this Court on 19 Feb, the Presiding Officer expressed falsehood for which he must be held accountable. For the above reasons, we have come to the conclusion that the results declared by the Presiding Officer are unlawful and have to be set aside. We order accordingly,” the court noted in its judgment.
While examining the ballot papers, Chief Justice Chandrachud observed, “All eight have received the stamp for Kuldeep Kumar. The votes are cast for Kuldeep Kumar. What the returning officer does is, he puts a single line. Just one line, as seen in the video.”
The top court was scrutinising the ballot papers used in the Chandigarh mayoral elections conducted on January 30 amid accusations of vote tampering by the Returning Officer, Anil Masih.
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The bench was convened to consider a plea by AAP councillor Kuldeep Kumar, challenging the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s decision to not immediately stay the election result, wherein a BJP candidate was declared the Mayor of Chandigarh.
On Monday, the top court strongly criticised Masih for meddling in the election process, asserting that he should face prosecution for “defacing ballot papers.” In addition, the bench called for the appointment of a new returning officer for the municipal polls, one who is “not associated with any political party,” before allowing the election process to resume.
During Monday’s hearing, Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, leading the bench, expressed concern about apparent “horse-trading,” stating, “We are disturbed with the horse-trading which had taken place.”
The court raised questions about his actions of gazing into the camera and making marks on the ballot papers. To which Masih admitted to marking the defaced ballot papers, claiming he looked at a CCTV camera in the counting area. He mentioned marking eight ballot papers to distinguish them, but the CJI remained unconvinced.
“You can sign the ballot papers… Why were you ticking or putting an X on those ballot papers?… Which rule says that you can put ticks or X on those ballot papers?… He (Masih) has to be prosecuted. In an electoral democracy, this cannot be allowed,” remarked the CJI.
On January 30, Manoj Sonkar of the BJP emerged victorious in the mayoral election with 16 votes, surpassing the 12 votes secured by the Congress-AAP candidate, Kumar. Despite the AAP-Congress alliance holding a majority in the house with 20 members, the rejection of eight votes as invalid had a consequential impact on the alliance’s majority.
In a bid for redress and an investigation into suspected fraud and forgery surrounding the BJP’s victory, Kumar initially sought relief from the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
However, the High Court deferred the matter for a hearing three weeks later and declined to impose an immediate stay on the polls. Subsequently, Kumar turned to the Supreme Court, seeking a stay on the notification of Sonkar’s appointment as Mayor.
Meanwhile, Sonkar resigned from the mayoral position on Sunday, a day before the scheduled Supreme Court hearing. Simultaneously, three AAP councillors defected and joined the BJP.