Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: The Supreme Court's observations in the matter of the Chandigarh mayoral polls show that 'democracy was murdered', Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said on Monday, asserting that people will give a befitting reply.
Appalled by the alleged defacing of ballot papers in the Chandigarh mayoral elections, the apex court earlier in the day said it was a mockery of democracy and ordered that the ballots and the video of the electoral proceedings be preserved.
Taking note of a plea of an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor, who alleged wrongdoing in the polls, the court issued notices to Chandigarh authorities, including the civic body.
A bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra expressed annoyance after watching the video of the electoral proceedings and said that prima facie, the returning officer was 'defacing' the ballot papers.
"This is a mockery of democracy. We are appalled by what has happened. We will not allow democracy to be murdered like this," the CJI said.
Citing this particular observation of the CJI, Priyanka Gandhi said his comment shows how 'democracy was murdered' in the Chandigarh mayor elections.
"The BJP is crushing democracy to suppress the voice of the people, this is now in front of the people of the country. Only the public will give a befitting answer to this," the Congress general secretary said in a post in Hindi on 'X'.
The BJP on January 30 swept the Chandigarh mayoral polls against the Congress-AAP alliance.
Manoj Sonkar of the BJP defeated the AAP's Kuldeep Kumar for the mayor's post, polling 16 votes against his rival's 12. Eight votes were declared invalid.