SC overturns Chandigarh mayoral poll result and declares AAP candidate 'validly elected' mayor
The Supreme Court on Tuesday overturned the result of the Chandigarh mayoral poll, in which the BJP candidate had emerged an unlikely winner, and declared defeated AAP-Congress alliance candidate Kuldeep Kumar as the new city mayor.
A bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra was dealing with a plea filed by Kuldeep Kumar, accusing Returning Officer Anil Masih of allegedly "defacing the ballots" during the Chandigarh mayoral polls held on January 30.
Further, the top court ordered the prosecution of Anil Masih, also a BJP leader, for his "misdemeanour" after finding serious faults in the conduct of the January 30 election.
It further directed the Registrar Judicial to issue notice to Masih for perjury proceedings under Section 340 CrPC for making a false statement before the court that the mark was made on eight ballots as they were defaced.
Today, the apex court conducted a physical examination of the ballot papers and rejected the returning officer's claim from Monday's hearing that they were defaced and noted that Masih had "unlawfully altered the course of the mayoral election."
"The eight votes which were treated as invalid by making those markings... counting the eight votes for the petitioner (AAP candidate Kumar) will make him have 20 votes. We direct that the election result by the Returning Officer be quashed. The petitioner is declared to be the winner of the Chandigarh mayoral polls," the bench said in its order.
The apex court made it clear that it was not quashing the entire electoral exercise and was restricting itself to dealing with the wrongdoings in the counting process, which led to the invalidation of eight votes cast in Kumar's favour. "Setting aside the election process itself would not be proper since the issue is only when the Returning Officer made the counting," the bench observed.
Reacting to the apex court verdict, Kuldeep Kumar said it's a "victory for democracy" and added that he would have become mayor earlier had the Chandigarh mayoral polls not been rigged allegedly by the BJP.
"It is a victory of democracy, a victory of Chandigarh residents and a victory of truth," said the AAP candidate. "Today, I have tears of joy," said Kumar, who had cried on January 30 when the eight votes were declared invalid.
Meanwhile, AAP National Convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal praised the Supreme Court's historic verdict in the case, emphasising the importance of upholding democratic institutions.
'Murdering democracy'
On Monday, the top court had voiced its deep concern over the "horse-trading" and said it would examine the ballot papers and video recording of the counting. Instead of ordering fresh polls, the top court had said it may consider a declaration of results based on votes already cast.
Further, the SC bench had reiterated that it had become evident that Masih made a deliberate attempt to deface eight ballot papers and pulled up the returning officer, asking him why he put 'X' marks on ballot papers.
Masih, who appeared before the bench in pursuance of the apex court's direction, was quizzed by the judges over the alleged tampering of certain ballot papers.
Replying to the judges' questions, Masih said he did put the "X" mark on eight already "defaced" ballot papers and accused Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillors of creating a ruckus and trying to snatch away the ballot papers. He said that due to this, he was looking at the CCTV camera at the counting centre.
On February 5, the Supreme Court came down heavily on the Masih, asserting that he was "murdering democracy" and ordering the preservation of the entire record of the election process, including ballot papers, videography, and other material, through the Registrar General of Punjab and Haryana High Court. The observations of the apex court came after it watched video of the controversial election.
"It is obvious that he has defaced the ballot papers. He needs to be prosecuted. Why is he looking at the camera? 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. Is this the behaviour of a returning officer? Wherever there is a cross at the bottom, he does not touch it but when it is at the top, he alters it. Please tell the returning officer that the Supreme Court is watching him," the top court had remarked in its previous hearing on February 5.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept the Chandigarh mayoral polls against the Congress-AAP alliance on January 30.
Earlier on Sunday, BJP's Manoj Sonkar resigned from the post of Chandigarh Mayor, a day before the Supreme Court's hearing on allegations of irregularities in the vote-counting process.
Sonkar had been announced as the winner of the Chandigarh Mayoral election after securing 16 votes in the 35-member municipal corporation House, while Kuldeep Kumar, the INDIA bloc candidate of Congress and AAP, received 12 votes.
Eight votes were declared “invalid” by Masih, the presiding officer.
Kuldeep had moved the top court to challenge a Punjab and Haryana High Court order that has refused to grant any interim relief to the party, which is seeking fresh mayoral polls in Chandigarh. The AAP had alleged tampering with ballot papers and sought fresh polls under the supervision of a retired judge of the court.
(With additional inputs from PTI, ANI)