SC reverses Chandigarh mayoral poll result; apologise for dishonesty in elections, says AAP

In a significant development, the Supreme Court on Tuesday reversed the result of the Chandigarh mayoral poll and declared AAP-Congress alliance candidate Kuldeep Kumar as the new city mayor.

It also ordered prosecution of the returning officer for the poll, Anil Masih, a BJP leader, for his "misdemeanour", after finding serious faults in the conduct of the January 30 election. The BJP candidate Manoj Sonkar had emerged as an unlikely winner in the mayoral polls and the Congress-AAP alliance had challenged the verdict alleging gross irregularities during counting and took the matter to court.

Wrong-doings in counting

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 invalidation of eight votes cast in Kumar's favour.

A bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud said it was evident that Masih made deliberate attempt to deface eight ballot papers. The bench along with justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, passed the verdict on the plea of defeated Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate for the election Kuldeep Kumar, accusing the returning officer of electoral malpractices.

The top court scrutinised the ballot papers and watched the video recordings that were brought before it by a judicial officer appointed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court's registrar general.

Apologise for dishonesty during polls: AAP

Meanwhile, reacting to the Supreme Court order in the Chandigarh mayoral polls case, the AAP said it is a big victory for democracy and demanded that BJP leaders apologise to the country for its "dishonesty" during the elections.

The Supreme Court's order has exposed the BJP and shown it the mirror. The party's leaders should apologise to the country if they have any shame left, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj told a press conference here. "It is a matter of grave concern that if the BJP and its central government can do such open stealing and dishonesty in such a small poll, what would they do in other elections where there are no microphones and CCTV cameras," Bharadwaj said.

The January 30 polls were videographed, and days after the announcement of results, AAP national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had attacked the BJP, alleging that the "world's biggest party was caught on camera stealing votes".

Following the Supreme Court's decision on Tuesday, Kejriwal hailed the top court, saying it had saved the democracy in these "difficult times".

Farcical election

The Congress said the SC's decision on the "farcical election" for the mayor's post in Chandigarh will go a long way to save Indian democracy.

"The entire election process was a complete farce, which has been duly exposed with this historic verdict," Congress general secretary K C Venugopal said in a post on X.

"For 4 months, we have been frequently seeking time from the Election Commission to discuss the issue of complete VVPAT counting, but it has not found any time for us so far. We hope the ECI moves swiftly and takes steps that will improve the people's faith in the democratic process -- not dent it," he added.

Tampering with ballots

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.

BJP candidate Manoj Sonkar had defeated Kuldeep Kumar after polling 16 votes against his rival's 12 to bag the mayor's post. Sonkar, however, resigned subsequently, a day before the Supreme Court hearing, while three AAP councillors defected to the BJP.

(With inputs from agencies)