The Supreme Court on Tuesday created history by declaring Aam Aadmi Party’s Kuldeep Kumar the winner of last month’s Chandigarh mayor election, after returning officer Anil Masih was caught on camera deliberately invalidating and rejecting eight votes in favor of the AAP leader. After several weeks the dispute ended. ,
The order – which was done before the votes were counted, including those erroneously rejected, in the courtroom rather than at the counting center – voids the earlier result, in which Bharatiya Janata Party’s Manoj Sonkar was elected mayor. I went. Mr. Sonkar resigned soon thereafter.
Mr Masih also faces contempt of court proceedings – he has been issued a ‘show cause’ notice – initiated by the apex court, which took strict action against the former BJP minority cell member who has been barred from bar proceedings. -Was warned of prosecution several times. It was found that he had lied to the court in any way.
Should Mr Masih be prosecuted – in an earlier hearing the Supreme Court had called his actions a “mockery of democracy” and indicated it would do so – it would be a historic first in independent India, and would potentially have implications for the election results. Kidnapping will be a strong warning a few weeks before the Lok Sabha elections.
The historic decision also means that AAP and Congress – which had fought the elections in alliance with each other – have registered the first victory of the Indian bloc to defeat the BJP.
Read | BJP wins Chandigarh Mayor election in first battle vs India Block
As much as you and Kuldeep Kumar will welcome the court order, it will also be a blow to the Congress and the India faction, which is on the verge of disintegration in less than a year of its formation. , amid disagreements among members over seat-sharing and election preparation details.
The faction, which Janata Dal (United) chief Nitish Kumar helped establish, has been rejected by the Trinamool Congress in Bengal and is at odds with the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh.
Read | India’s unity in Uttar Pradesh hinges on Congress’ response
Nitish Kumar has walked out of the alliance and has again entered into an alliance with the BJP, which has dealt him a big blow.
AAP’s position in India has also been questioned as the Congress has so far failed to agree on a seat-sharing deal in Punjab and Delhi, where the Aam Aadmi Party is in power.
Read | Congress, AAP have “mutually agreed” to contest elections alone in Punjab: Kejriwal
State units of both parties, especially in Punjab, are strongly opposing any deal. In that backdrop, the agreement to contest the mayoral elections together was seen as a success.
The initial result – ‘defeat’ – was seen as increasing further tensions in India and AAP–Congress relations, which would now be viewed more favourably. But how favorable this is is not yet clear and will be revealed after the next round of seat sharing talks between the two parties.
Earlier today, the Supreme Court led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud examined the eight rejected ballot papers. Mr Masih had told the court on Monday that he had marked those eight because he had been “defaced” by the councilors themselves, and he wanted to ensure that the votes were not counted.
Read | Chandigarh election recount, 8 illegal votes to be counted: Supreme Court
Under the law, double-marked ballots, or those that contain markings identifying the legislator, or are marked in any other way, are considered “invalid” and cannot be included in the counting process.
The court began today’s hearing by asking Mr Masih to explain how the ballot papers were “defaced”. Appearing for the Returning Officer, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi pointed out smaller points and replied, “… (so) he assessed that some ballot papers were illegal. He is not a thief… that is his assessment. Was.”
The court clearly disagreed, and said, “All eight have got the nod for Kuldeep Kumar… the votes have been cast for Mr Kumar. What does he (Mr Masih) do… he casts a line …”
Returning Officer Anil Masih told the Supreme Court that he had marked ‘X’ on eight ballot papers.
This was not the first time that Mr. Masih has been questioned by the Supreme Court.
On Monday he was told, “If you are not giving truthful answers, you will be prosecuted” and asked, “What were you doing looking at the camera while crossing out the ballots. Why were you marking off?” “
Read | This is the first time in independent India that the Chief Justice has interrogated an official of Chandigarh.
“After voting, I had to sign (some) papers. The mutilated papers had to be separated,” he said.
Controversy over the results of the Chandigarh mayoral race began when a video of the vote counting process was widely shared online. The video shows Mr Masih secretly marking some ballot papers. Halfway through his act he looks up and realizes that his actions are being recorded by CCTV.
After this video, AAP and Congress staged fierce protests and accused BJP of carrying out this incident. BJP strongly denied these allegations.
Chandigarh Mayor Election
Earlier BJP’s Manoj Sonkar was declared the winner.
Polling officials gave 16 votes to Mr Sonkar while 12 to Mr Kumar; Had eight votes been counted, as directed by the Supreme Court, the AAP candidate would have registered a comfortable victory.
Since then, three AAP councilors joined the BJP, which changed the equations significantly in this election. The BJP now has 19 votes in the 35-member House, including the votes of the Chandigarh Lok Sabha MP, who has voting rights as an ex-officio member. AAP-Congress have only 17 seats.
If re-election – as demanded by Mr. Sonkar – had been ordered, the BJP would have won the election.
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