‘Murder of democracy’: SC says Chandigarh mayoral election officials tainted votes

The Supreme Court on Monday came down heavily on the presiding officer of the Chandigarh mayoral election, saying he had clearly defaced the ballot papers.

The Supreme Court is hearing an AAP MP’s plea against a Punjab and Haryana High Court order denying any interim relief to the party seeking a new mayoral election in Chandigarh.

“Is this the way he conducted elections? This is a travesty of democracy. This is murder of democracy. We are shocked. This man should be prosecuted. Is this an act of the returning officer?” said CJI DY Chandrachud.

The Supreme Court, through the Registrar General of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, has ordered preservation of the entire record of the election process, including ballot papers, video recordings and other materials.

The court further directed that the subsequent meeting of the Chandigarh Corporation should be postponed till the next hearing of the matter.

“SG Mehta said that the entire record has been handed over to the UT Chandigarh Deputy Commissioner. The Deputy Commissioner should hand it over to the Registrar General HC. The subsequent meeting of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation will be postponed to the next date. Let these documents be It will be handed over to the HC Registrar General by 5:00 pm today,” the CJI added.

Chandigarh mayoral polls

this BJP wins resounding victory in Chandigarh mayoral electionAll three positions were retained on January 30 after eight votes from the Indian bloc were declared invalid.

After the BJP’s landslide victory, the Congress-AP alliance accused presiding officials of tampering with votes and sought fresh polls overseen by a retired judge.

AAP leaders react to Supreme Court ruling

AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sandip Pathak termed the Supreme Court ruling as a good decision, saying it was about “determining criminal guilt and responsibility”.

“This is a good decision. Such decisions reaffirm people’s faith in the justice system. They fraudulently declared 8 votes illegal. What the BJP did was caught on camera. This is not about holding another election. But this is To establish criminal guilt and responsibility,” the AAP leader said.