The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled the Aam Aadmi Party’s Kuldeep Kumar the lawful winner of last month’s Chandigarh mayoral election, ending weeks of controversy after the Returning Officer, Anil Masih, was caught on camera deliberately invalidating and discarding eight votes in his favour.
Mr Masih also faces a contempt of court action – he has been issued a ‘show cause’ notice – that has been initiated by the top court, which came down strongly on the former BJP Minority Cell member, who was repeatedly warned of prosecution if he was found to have lied to the court in any way.
Should Mr Masih be prosecuted – in an earlier hearing the Supreme Court called his actions a “mockery of democracy” and indicated it would do just that – it will be a historic first in independent India, and a stern warning to potential hijacking of poll results weeks before the Lok Sabha election.
The landmark judgement also means the AAP and the Congress – which contested the election in alliance with each other – have recorded the INDIA bloc’s first win as it bids to defeat the BJP.
As much as the court’s order will be welcomed by the AAP and Kuldeep Kumar, it will also be a shot in the arm for the Congress and the INDIA bloc, which is on the verge of breaking up, less than a year after it was formed, amid disagreements between members on seat-sharing and poll prep details.
Earlier today the Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, examined the eight discarded ballot papers. Mr Masih had on Monday told the court he had marked these eight because they had been “defaced” by the councillors themselves, and he wanted to ensure the votes were not counted.
Under the law, double-marked ballot papers, or those with marks that identify the lawmaker, or are marked in any other way, are considered “invalid” and cannot be included in the counting process.
The court began today’s hearing by asking Mr Masih to point out how the ballots were “defaced”. Appearing for the Returning Officer, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, pointed to small dots and replied, “… (so) he assessed certain ballots were invalid. He is not a thief… it was his assessment.”
The court was distinctly unconvinced, and noted “All eight have received the stamp for Kuldeep Kumar… the votes are cast for Mr Kumar. What he (Mr Masih) does is… he puts a single line…”
Controversy over the results of the Chandigarh mayoral race broke after a video of the counting process was widely shared online. The video showed Mr Masih surreptitiously marking some ballot papers. Halfway through his act he glances up and realises his actions are being recorded by CCTVs.
The video triggered furious protests by the AAP and the Congress.
Chandigarh Mayoral Election
The BJP’s Manoj Sonkar was declared the winner after the contentious counting of votes.
Polling officials gave Mr Sonkar 16 votes to Mr Kumar’s 12; had the eight votes been counted, as the Supreme Court has directed, the AAP candidate would have recorded a comfortable win.
Since then three AAP councillors have sided with the BJP, significantly changing the equation in this election. The BJP now has 19 votes in the 35-member house, including that of the Chandigarh Lok Sabha MP, who has voting rights as an ex-officio member. The AAP-Congress have only 17.
If the court had ordered a re-election – as was sought by Mr Sonkar – the BJP would have had a clear advantage.
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