A few days after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) petitioned the Supreme Court, accusing it of “cheating” in the Chandigarh mayoral election results, the court denounced the presiding officer’s actions as a “mockery of democracy.” The Chandigarh mayoral polls involved ballot papers and videos, which the Supreme Court ordered the administration to turn over to the registrar of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
The Chief Justice of India (CJI), DY Chandrachud, together with Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, stated that Anil Masih, the returning officer, needs to face legal action since he was caught on camera defacing the ballot papers.
“It is obvious that he has defaced the ballot papers, he needs to be prosecuted. Why is he looking at the camera. Mr Solicitor, this is a mockery of democracy and murdering democracy. We are appalled. Is this behaviour of a returning officer. Wherever there is cross at bottom, he does not touch it and when it is at the top he alters it, please tell returning officer that Supreme Court is watching him,” Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud stated.
The Supreme Court mandated that the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation meeting scheduled on February 7 be postponed until further notice.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) claimed that the returning officer had tampered with the ballots to invalidate the votes and proclaim BJP candidate Manoj Sonkar the winner. This is why the Supreme Court made such strict observations. In the 35-member House, the AAP and Congress fought together for the Chandigarh mayoral seat, with the AAP holding a comfortable majority of 20 votes.
The BJP received 15 votes, including 1 from MP Kirron Kher and 14 from councillors. However, the BJP candidate was proclaimed the victor after the polls with 16 votes, while the AAP-Congress alliance’s 8 votes were deemed void.
“The manner in which cheating has been done in broad daylight in the Chandigarh Mayor elections is extremely worrying. If these people can stoop so low in a mayor’s election, then they can go to any extent in the country’s elections. This is very worrying,” Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal wrote on X in Hindi.
