The bench said the matter would be heard in the second week of July.
New Delhi:
Anil Masih, the returning officer for the Chandigarh mayoral election, on Friday offered an unconditional apology to the Supreme Court for making false statements that the votes were invalid.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Mr Masih, told a bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud: “We have apologized unconditionally. I had a long discussion with him. Talk. He will withdraw the first affidavit and surrender to the Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud. Court. This is an unconditional apology.”
“He can’t just apologize and walk away,” senior lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi told AAP in court.
The bench said the matter would be heard in the second week of July.
The Supreme Court initiated proceedings against Mr Masih under Section 340 of the Criminal Procedure Code for tampering with ballots and making false statements before the bench, resulting in the invalidation of eight votes.
In a previous affidavit, Mr Massey said he was suffering from depression and anxiety when he gave his statement in court on February 19.
In February, the Supreme Court declared Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Kuldeep Kumar the winner of the Chandigarh mayoral polls. It reversed Mr Masih’s decision on January 30 to announce the BJP candidate Manoj Kumar Sonkar as Chandigarh mayor.
The Supreme Court issued the order after it found that election officials deliberately defaced eight votes cast for Kuldeep Kumar, rendering them invalid.
The Supreme Court conducted a physical inspection of the ballots today and found they were not tainted.
Councilors later lashed out at Masih, saying he had “illegally changed the course of the mayoral election.”
Despite having 20 MPs, the BJP’s Manoj Kumar Sonkar polled 16 votes against the 12 votes of AAP’s Kuldeep Kumar. The rejection of eight votes cast by the AAP-Congress alliance as invalid has triggered accusations of vote fraud.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
