'Little Cross, Little Bit of Paper, Little Man...': SC on Chandigarh Mayoral Poll

In the landmark judgment in the Chandigarh Mayor election case, the Supreme Court in its judgment observed that "the ‘little cross’ on the ‘little bit of paper’ must be made only by the metaphorical ‘little man’ walking into the ‘little booth’ and no one else". Reports Sumit Saxena.

New Delhi:The Supreme Court has said that elections at the local participatory level act as a microcosm of the larger democratic structure in the country and ensuring a free and fair electoral process is imperative for maintaining people’s trust in representative democracy.

A three-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, referring to the observations made by Justice VR Krishna Iyer in a 1977 verdict delivered by the apex court, said, “In order to maintain the purity of the electoral process, the ‘little cross’ on the ‘little bit of paper’ must be made only by the metaphorical ‘little man’ walking into the ‘little booth’ and no one else”.

On February 20, the apex court had declared defeated AAP-Congress alliance candidate Kuldeep Kumar the mayor of Chandigarh after overturning the result of the controversial civic poll where the BJP nominee had emerged an unlikely winner amid allegations of rigging of the counting process by the returning officer.

In its judgement, which was uploaded on the apex court website on Thursday, the bench, also comprising justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, said: “Elections at the local participatory level act as a microcosm of the larger democratic structure in the country. Local governments, such as municipal corporations, engage with issues that affect citizens’ daily lives and act as a primary point of contact with representative democracy. The process of citizens electing councillors, who in turn, elect the Mayor, serves as a channel for ordinary citizens to ventilate their grievances through their representatives – both directly and indirectly elected”.

“Ensuring a free and fair electoral process throughout this process, therefore, is imperative to maintain the legitimacy of and trust in representative democracy. We are of the considered view that in such a case, this Court is duty-bound, particularly in the context of its jurisdiction under Article 142 of the Constitution, to do complete justice to ensure that the process of electoral democracy is not allowed to be thwarted by such subterfuges”, added the bench.

“We are, therefore, of the view that this Court must step in in such an exceptional situation to ensure that the basic mandate of electoral democracy at the local participatory level is preserved”, said the bench.

The apex court said pertinently, this is not an ordinary case of alleged malpractice by candidates in an election, but electoral misconduct by the presiding officer himself. “The brazen nature of the malpractice, visible on camera, makes the situation all the more extraordinary, justifying the invocation of the power of this Court under Article 142”, it added.

The bench also directed the registrar (judicial) to issue a “notice to show cause to Anil Masih of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation who was the presiding officer at the election which took place on January 30, 2024, as to why steps should not be initiated against him under section 340 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973”.

The bench, which observed that Masih, who was the returning officer, shall have an opportunity to file his response to the notice to be issued to him, posted the matter for March 15 for considering his response.

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