The Supreme Court on Monday came down heavily on the presiding officer in the Chandigarh mayoral polls saying it is evident that he defaced the ballot papers.
The apex court was hearing an AAP councillor’s plea challenging a Punjab and Haryana High Court order that refused to grant any interim relief to the party seeking fresh mayoral polls in Chandigarh.
“Is this the way he conducts the elections? This is a mockery of democracy. This is a murder of democracy. We are appalled. This man should be prosecuted. Is this the behaviour of the Returning Officer?” CJI DY Chandrachud said.
The top court has ordered 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 court further directed that the ensuing meeting of the Chandigarh Corporation shall be deferred till the next hearing in the matter.
“SG Mehta submits that the entire record is handed over the entire record to the deputy commissioner of UT Chandigarh. The deputy commissioner shall hand it over to the registrar general HC. The ensuing meeting of Chandigarh Municipal Corporation shall be deferred till the next date. Let the papers be handed over to the HC registrar general by today 5:00 pm,” CJI added.
Chandigarh Mayoral Polls
The BJP swept the Chandigarh mayoral polls, retaining all three posts on January 30, after eight votes of the INDIA bloc were declared invalid.
Following the BJP’s sweeping victory, the Congress-AAP alliance had alleged tampering with ballot papers by the presiding officer and sought fresh polls under the supervision of a retired judge of the court.
On Wednesday, a division bench of Justices Sudhir Singh and Harsh Bunger of the high court denied interim relief to the Aam Aadmi Party on its plea alleging tempering in the mayoral polls.
The high court issued notices to the Chandigarh administration, the municipal corporation, presiding officer Anil Masih and newly-elected mayor Manoj Sonkar, among others, asking them to file their replies within three weeks.
Following the high court’s order, AAP councillor Kuldeep Kumar, a candidate for the mayor’s post, filed an appeal in the top court against the denial of interim relief and listing of the plea after three weeks.
AAP Leaders React to Supreme Court’s Ruling
AAP Rajya Sabha MP, Sandip Pathak called the top court’s ruling a good decision saying it is about “fixing criminal culpability and liability”.
“It is a good decision. Such a decision reaffirms faith in the judicial system. They had fraudulently declared 8 votes illegal. BJP was caught doing this on camera. It is not about getting elections done again. But this is about fixing criminal culpability and liability,” the AAP leader said.
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