NEW DELHI: In a major victory for the Aam Aadmi Party, the Supreme Court on Tuesday declared party councillor Kuldeep Kumar as the Mayor of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, setting aside the January 30 result announced by the presiding officer declaring BJP candidate Manoj Kumar Sonkar as the winner.
The top court dubbed the results of the Chandigarh mayoral polls as illegal and noted that presiding officer Anil Masih, a nominated councillor of the BJP, had deliberately defaced eight ballots that were cast in favour of Mr Kumar so as to make them invalid. The CJI-led bench ordered his prosecution for his “misdemeanour” after finding serious faults in the conduct of the January 30 election.
The apex court directed the registrar (judicial) to issue a notice to Mr Masih to showcause as to why proceedings should not be initiated against him under Section 340 of the CrPC for allegedly making false statements before the court.
Celebrations broke out at the AAP office after the Supreme Court declared the AAP municipal councillor as the winner and mayor of Chandigarh.
The Supreme Court has saved democracy in these "difficult times", Delhi chief minister and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal said.
Terming the decision historic, Mr Kejriwal said it was a big victory for the INDIA bloc. "The message of this poll is that if INDIA bloc parties remain united and work strategically, they can defeat the BJP," he asserted.
Hitting out at the BJP, Mr Kejriwal said if it can "steal" eight votes out of 36 in the Chandigarh mayoral polls, what will it do in the upcoming elections in which 90 crore votes will be polled. "Thank you SC for saving democracy in these difficult times," he said in a post on X earlier on Tuesday.
It is a victory for democracy and Chandigarh residents, said Kumar who was declared the winner and mayor of Chandigarh Municipal Corporation by the Supreme Court on Tuesday.
"Today, I have tears of joy," said Mr Kumar who had cried on January 30 when the eight votes were declared invalid.
Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday hailed the Supreme Court verdict on the Chandigarh mayoral poll, saying "truth finally wins".
The Congress party hailed the Supreme Court decision on the "farcical election", saying it saved democracy from the fangs of an "autocratic BJP" that resorted to dirty election manipulation.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the "institutional sabotage" is only the "tip of the iceberg in Modi-Shah's devious conspiracy to trample democracy".
Slamming Prime Minister Narendra Modi following the verdict, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said, "Mr Masih (the returning officer for the poll) is just a 'pawn' in the BJP's conspiracy to murder democracy, behind which is the 'face' of Modi."
The apex court declared the APP candidate the winner of the Chandigarh mayoral polls while hearing a petition from Mr Kumar, who had challenged a Punjab and Haryana high court order that refused to grant any interim relief to the party that had sought fresh mayoral polls in Chandigarh.
A three-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud and also comprising Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra invoked its powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to pass the directions to do "complete justice" and ordered the initiation of criminal proceedings against Mr Masih.
During the proceeding on Tuesday, the bench physically examined the ballot papers and found that they were not defaced as claimed by Mr Masih on Monday.
The top court declared Mr Kumar the winner after taking into account eight votes that were cast in favour of the AAP councillor but declared invalid by Mr Masih.
On Monday, the apex court had ordered the production of the ballot papers and the records, which were taken into the custody of the Punjab and Haryana high court in line with the previous order issued on February 5.
The bench cited Regulation 6 of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation (Procedure and Conduct of Business) Regulations 1996, which postulates that a ballot can be invalid only under three circumstances -- more than one vote is cast, there is any mark identifying the voter and the marks are placed in an ambiguous manner, making it doubtful to whom the vote is cast.
The top court held that none of the three provisions were found on the eight "declared invalid" ballots and these ballots are to be treated as valid.
"The ink marks placed by the presiding officer at the end of the ballots have no consequence," the court observed.
Of the total 36 votes, only 28 were counted as the presiding officer had invalidated eight ballots polled in favour of Mr Kumar. This rendered the AAP councillor secure only 12 votes, while the BJP bagged 16 votes. Mr Masih was a nominated councillor of the BJP.
The apex court, however, made it clear that it was not quashing the entire electoral exercise and was restricting itself to dealing with the wrongdoings in the counting process, which led to the invalidation of eight votes cast in favour of Mr Kumar.
The top court held that it was evident that Mr Masih made a deliberate attempt to deface eight ballot papers.
"We accordingly order and direct that the result of the election as declared by the presiding officer (Mr Masih) stands quashed and set aside. The petitioner (Mr Kumar) is declared to be the validly elected candidate for election as mayor of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation," the top court ruled.
The BJP had won the mayoral poll, defeating the comfortably placed AAP-Congress alliance candidate after the returning officer declared eight votes of the coalition partners invalid, drawing accusations of tampering with ballots.
Mr Sonkar of the BJP had defeated Mr Kumar after polling 16 votes against his rival's 12 to bag the mayor's post. Amid the charge of rigging, Mr Sonkar subsequently resigned from the post.
The Court also found that Mr Masih had put a one-line mark at the end of these eight ballots. In his statement before the bench on Monday, Mr Masih claimed that he had put these marks, since these ballots were already defaced and so he wanted to segregate them.
During the hearing on Tuesday, the top court, however, found Mr Masih's statement to be false, as the ballots were not defaced.
Holding that "the presiding officer has made a deliberate attempt to deface 8 ballots that were cast in favour of the petitioner so that the 8th respondent (the BJP candidate) will be declared as the elected candidate," the bench said, adding, "The presiding officer made a solemn statement before this court that he had done so as the 8 ballots were defaced. It is evident that none of the ballots are defaced."
"The conduct of the presiding officer has to be deprecated at two levels. Firstly, he has unlawfully altered the course of the mayoral election. Secondly, in making a solemn statement before this Court on February 19, the presiding officer expressed falsehood for which he must be held accountable," the bench said.
"We are of the view that setting aside the entire election process is inappropriate, as the only infirmity is found in the counting process. Setting aside the entire election process will compound the destruction of the democratic principles that happened due to the conduct of the presiding officer," the bench said, adding, "It cannot let democratic processes be set at naught by "subterfuge".
