Chandigarh mayor poll officer unlawfully altered election, lied to us: Supreme Court

Chandigarh mayor poll officer unlawfully altered election, lied to us: Supreme Court

Ending weeks of controversy, the Supreme Court on Tuesday declared AAP councillor Kuldeep Kumar as the winner and mayor of Chandigarh while coming down heavily on returning officer Anil Masih and issuing him a showcause notice.

The returning officer had announced the BJP candidate as the winner of the Chandigarh mayoral polls on January 30 after he declared eight votes of the AAP-Congress coalition “invalid”. This led the AAP to accuse the returning officer of tampering with ballots.

The Supreme Court, taking a stern view of Masih’s actions to deface the votes, directed the eight “invalid” votes to be treated as valid. These eight votes were cast in favour of the AAP.

CHANDIGARH MAYORAL POLLS: WHAT SUPREME COURT SAID

• The returning officer of the Chandigarh mayoral polls made deliberate efforts to deface eight ballots cast in favour of the petitioner. 
• In this court on Monday, the officer made a statement that he had done so because he found the ballots were defaced. 
• The conduct of the presiding officer has to be deprecated at two levels. Firstly, by his conduct, he has unlawfully altered the course of the mayor election. Secondly, in making a statement before this court, the officer expressed a “patent falsehood” for which he must be held accountable.
• The returning officer could not have been unmindful of making a statement that was false. The judicial registrar is directed to show-cause Anil Masih as to why steps should not be initiated against him.