Chandigarh Mayor Polls: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has released a purported video showing the presiding officer allegedly tampering with the ballot papers before declaring them invalid in the Chandigarh Mayoral Polls.
In a post shared by AAP's Punjab unit on social media platform X, it wrote, "Now accept it, BJP. What can be a greater proof than this? See how the Presiding Officer of BJP openly destroyed the flag of democracy by cancelling the votes himself. This is living proof of BJP's dictatorship."
In Chandigarh Mayoral Polls, BJP's candidate was declared winner despite AAP-Congress having more numbers in the Chandigarh municipal council, after eight votes were declared invalid.
Murder of democracy, says Supreme Court, may order fresh election
The Supreme Court which is now hearing the matter termed it a murder of democracy and observed that it is obvious he defaced the ballot papers and that he should be prosecuted.
An “appalled” Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, who headed a three-judge Division bench, said it will not allow democracy to be murdered like this and that the apex court will order fresh elections if not satisfied with the purity of the poll process.
Asking whether the Returning Officer(RO) is an officer or a fugitive, the court also ordered preservation of ballots and the video of the poll proceedings besides seeking his personal appearance during the next hearing in the Chandigarh mayoral polls case on February 19.
The top court gave the order after it took note of the allegations in the plea of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor Kuldeep Kumar, who lost the mayoral poll, that the RO squiggled eight ballot papers of councillors of the Congress-AAP alliance, rendering them invalid.
BJP won Chandigarh Mayoral Polls
The BJP swept the Chandigarh mayoral polls on January 30, retaining all three posts, in a setback to the Congress-AAP alliance that alleged tampering with ballot papers by the presiding officer.
Manoj Sonkar of the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) defeated Kumar polling 16 votes against his rival's 12 to bag the Mayor's post. Eight votes were declared invalid.
“It is obvious that he(the RO) has defaced the ballot papers. This man should be prosecuted. Look, why is he looking at the camera? Mr Solicitor (General), this is a mockery of democracy and murdering the democracy, we are appalled. Is this the behaviour of a returning officer,” Justice Chandrachud observed after watching the video recording of the electoral process.
Lordships have only one side of the picture, says Solicitor General Tushar Mehta
“Lordships have only one side of the picture. Don't form an opinion based on something said selectively,” Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Chandigarh authorities, told the bench which also comprised justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.
“The moment there is a cross at the top, the man defaces the ballot and looks at the camera. Please tell your returning officer that the Supreme Court is watching him. We will not allow democracy to be murdered like this. The great stabilising force is the purity of the election process and what has happened here,” the bench observed.
The bench directed that the entire records, pertaining to the election of the mayor, be “sequestered under the custody of the Registrar of the Punjab and Haryana High Court” by 5 pm on Monday by the Deputy Commissioner of Chandigarh, the present custodian of records.
“Produce the entirety of the video on the next occasion. We are not going by the regulations, we want our conscience to be satisfied otherwise hold fresh elections.
We will direct the returning officer to conduct a fresh election. Why is he looking at the camera? He has to do his duty. Is he an officer or a fugitive? Quietly, he defaces the ballot,” the CJI orally observed.
The AAP and the Congress hailed the court observations, saying it was a "tight slap" on the face of the BJP.
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