Chandigarh Mayor The Supreme Court threw out the results of the previous election, which caused controversy after Returning Officer Anil Masih “invalidated” eight AAP votes, and announced Kuldeep Kumar, the candidate of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), as the winner of the Chandigarh Mayoral election on Tuesday.
“The petitioner is declared to be the validly elected candidate for the post of Mayor of Chandigarh Municipal Corporation,” the Supreme Court bench, presided over by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, stated in its ruling.
“Counting the eight votes for the petitioner will give him a total of 20 votes, as the eight votes that were marked as invalid were handled as such. We order the presiding officer to void the election’s outcome. The Chandigarh mayoral election has been declared won by the AAP candidate, CJI Chandrachud said.
ABOUT ANIL MASIAH, WHAT DID SC SAY?
Prosecution of Anil Masih for “misdemeanour” was ordered by the Supreme Court, which discovered significant irregularities in the Chandigarh mayoral election on January 30. The Supreme Court has also sent Anil Masih a notice to appear for a show of reason. Anil Masih needs to be held responsible for lying in court, the supreme court stated.
First off, he illegally changed the direction of the mayoral election. Second, the Presiding Officer stated falsity in a solemn statement before this Court on February 19, for which he needs to answer,” the Supreme Court declared.
The Supreme Court observed that votes for AAP mayoral candidate Kuldeep Kumar were cast in all eight invalidated ballots that were tampered with throughout the counting process.
During the Chandigarh municipal election, what transpired?
The AAP-Congress alliance candidate was easily defeated by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Chandigarh mayoral election. This was due to the returning officer declaring eight of the coalition partners’ votes to be invalid, which raised suspicions of ballot fraud.
In order to become mayor, Manoj Sonkar of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) defeated Kuldeep Kumar by receiving 16 votes as opposed to his opponent’s 12. However, Sonkar later resigned, and three AAP council members joined the BJP.