Murder of democracy, we are appalled: Supreme Court on Chandigarh mayoral polls

BJP candidate had defeated the I.N.D.I.A. candidate by 16-12 majority to win the Mayoral elections of the Union Territory. 8 votes, all of the I.N.D.I.A. bloc's candidate had been declared unvalid.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday directed for preserving the original records of Chandigarh mayoral election, won by BJP’s Manoj Kumar Sonkar after cancellation of eight votes out of 20 votes secured by AAP-Congress joint candidate, saying it was obvious that the returning officer defaced the ballot papers in "murder" and "mockery" of democracy.

In strong observations, a bench of Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said the way the returning officer conducted the proceedings, he needs to be prosecuted.

The court was hearing a plea by Aam Aadmi Party councillor Kuldeep Kumar challenging the Punjab and Haryana High Court order, which refused to grant stay on election result in which a BJP candidate was declared as mayor of Chandigarh Municipal Corporation. 

The bench told senior advocate Maninder Singh and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing respondents in the matter, it is obvious that the returning officer has defaced the ballot papers and he needs to be prosecuted. 

Mehta asked the court to examine the complete video of the incident. 

As senior advocate A M Singhvi for the petitioner referred to the video of the polling day, the bench asked, “Why he (Returning Officer) is looking at the camera, this is a mockery of democracy. The returning officer is murdering democracy, we are appalled.”

"Is this the behaviour of the returning officer, and wherever there is a cross at the bottom he does not touch it and it is at the top, he alters it...Please tell the returning officer that the Supreme Court is watching him,” the bench said. 

The bench said the court will not allow democracy to be murdered this way.

The court ordered that the entire record of election process including ballot papers, videography and other material should be furnished to registrar general of Punjab and Haryana High Court. It also deferred sitting of the civic body.

On Kumar's petition alleging in BJP's win, the high court last week had only issued notice and listed the matter for hearing after three weeks. 

BJP’s Manoj Sonkar was elected as the mayor on Tuesday after he bagged 16 votes against the 12 votes received by the Congress-AAP candidate Kumar. Eight votes were rejected in the process as invalid.