'Horse-trading taking place': SC's strong observations in Chandigarh mayoral polls case

‘Horse-trading taking place’: SC’s strong observations in Chandigarh mayoral polls case

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday said that the returning officer in Chandigarh Mayoral polls Anil Masih has to be prosecuted as he was interfering with the election process.

During the hearing, Anil Masih admitted to tampering saying he put ‘X’ marks on eight ‘defaced’ ballot papers.

The Supreme Court was hearing a case involving the defeat of AAP-Congress candidate Kuldeep Kumar after eight votes were controversially declared invalid in Chandigarh Mayor polls.

Here are the key observations made by the Supreme Court.

• The Supreme Court questioned Anil Masih and asked why he put ‘X’ marks on ballot papers. Masih admitted to tampering and said he put ‘X’ marks on eight ‘defaced’ ballot papers.
• “The returning officer has to be prosecuted. He is interfering with the election process,” the top court observed.
• The court proposed to appoint a fresh returning officer, who is not aligned to any political party. The process shall be taken to the logical conclusion from the stage it stopped before the declaration of results.
• The Supreme Court has asked the high court registrar general to depute judicial officer to bring ballot papers, videos for its perusal on Tuesday.
• The top court has directed the administration to provide security to judicial officer to ensure safety of officer and records.
• The Supreme Court said it will peruse ballot papers, entire video recording of counting of votes at 2 pm on Tuesday.
• Horse-trading taking place, said the Supreme Court and refused to accept submission that plea on Chandigarh mayoral polls be heard on some other day.

The case so far

The BJP had swept the January 30 Chandigarh mayoral polls, in a setback to the Congress-AAP alliance that alleged tampering with ballot papers by the presiding officer.

BJP’s Manoj Sonkar resigned from the post on Sunday. Sonkar had defeated the AAP’s Kuldeep Kumar for the mayor’s post, polling 16 votes against his rival’s 12. Eight votes were declared invalid.

Kumar had later moved the Supreme Court.

On February 5, the Supreme Court had rapped the returning officer who conducted the Chandigarh mayoral polls, observing that it was obvious that he defaced the ballot papers and that he should be prosecuted, adding that his action amounted to “murder and mockery” of democracy.

The court had also ordered preservation of ballots and the video of the poll proceedings besides seeking the returning officer’s personal appearance during the next hearing in the case on February 19.

An appalled Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud, who headed a three-judge division bench, had said the court would not allow democracy to be murdered like this and that the apex court would order fresh elections if not satisfied with the purity of the poll process.

The AAP and the Congress had hailed the court’s observations, saying it was a “tight slap” on the face of the BJP.

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