New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday declared AAP candidate Kuldeep Kumar as the winner of the controversial Chandigarh Mayoral Polls while slamming the Returning Officer Anil Masih and issuing a showcase notice against him.
The apex court also set aside the January 30 poll results and treated the eight cancelled ballots as valid after going through the ballot papers produced in the court by the Judicial officer appointed by Punjab & Haryana HC Registrar General. Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud after examining the ballot papers said the eight shall be treated as valid.
The court slammed Masih, who conducted the mayoral polls, and said "a fit case is made out for the initiation of proceedings under Section 340 CrPC" against him. The court directed the registrar Judicial to issue a notice to Masih, to show cause as to why steps should not be initiated against him under Section 340 CrPC.
The apex court made it clear that it was not quashing the entire electoral exercise and restricting itself to dealing with the wrong-doings in the counting process which led to the invalidation of eight votes cast in Kuldeep Kumar's favour. A bench headed by CJI said it was evident that Masih made deliberate attempt to deface eight ballot papers.
The BJP had won the mayoral poll defeating the comfortably placed AAP-Congress alliance candidate after the returning officer declared as invalid eight votes of the coalition partners, drawing accusations of tampering with ballots. Manoj Sonkar of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had defeated Kuldeep Kumar after polling 16 votes against his rival's 12 to bag the mayor's post. Sonkar, however, resigned subsequently, while three AAP councillors defected to the BJP.
The Supreme Court's verdict comes as a relief for the Aam Aadmi Party-Congress alliance who have grandly welcomed it. Earlier in the day, the Ballot papers were placed before the bench headed by the CJI and comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra. The bench noted that all 8 invalidated ballots were cast in favour of Congress-AAP joint candidate Kuldeep Kumar.
The apex court noted that the Returning Officer Masih drew a line at the bottom of all 8 ballot papers and allowed all the parties to have a look at the ballot papers. The video of the voting process was also played in the apex court.
On Monday, the apex court, while hearing the issue of Chandigarh mayoral elections, had said that it was deeply concerned about the 'horse-trading' taking place post the controversial Chandigarh mayoral elections and summoned the records and videos of the polls held on January 30.
The three-judge bench had said that it would examine ballot papers and the entire video recording of the election on Tuesday. It also directed the registrar general of the Punjab and Haryana High Court to depute a judicial officer to bring the records safely to New Delhi, which was eventually done today.
"This whole business of horse trading which is going on is very disturbing. Let the entire video of counting of the votes be also produced tomorrow noon," the CJI had said on Monday. The apex court, on February 5, had rapped Masih, observing that it was obvious that he had defaced the ballot papers and that he should be prosecuted, adding that his action amounted to "murder" and a "mockery" of democracy.
During the hearing, the CJI voiced displeasure over the way the poll was held and told Masih he could be prosecuted. "This is a very serious matter...In case of any falsehood, you will be prosecuted," he warned the returning officer and asked him why he was seen looking into the camera and putting X' marks on ballot papers.
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