Chandigarh Mayor Elections: A Recap Of Poll Drama In 10 Points As SC Hears Case Again Today
The Supreme Court will hear the presiding officer Anil Masih's explanation for his conduct in the Chandigarh Mayoral elections. Here's a quick recap of the case and developments so far in 10 points:
The Supreme Court on Monday will hear the presiding officer Anil Masih's explanation for his conduct in the Chandigarh Mayoral elections. Just a day before the hearing, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate resigned from the post of Mayor. Here's a quick recap of the case and developments so far in 10 points:
1) On January 30, Manoj Sonkar, the Mayor candidate from BJP was declared the Mayor after winning 16 votes against the 12 votes received by the Congress-AAP candidate Kuldeep Kumar.
2) The presiding officer Anil Masih rejected 8 votes as invalid while counting. The AAP alleges that the rejection of the eight votes was done by forgery and BJP won elections by fraud. AAP and Congress jointly contested the Mayoral elections under the INDIA bloc and accused the presiding officer Anil Masih of refusing to allow the nominees of parties to monitor the counting of votes. They have also alleged that videos from the election clearly show that Masih shuffled the votes from one basket to another and tampered with ballot papers.
3) INDIA bloc candidate and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Councillor Kuldeep Kumar moves Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking immediate stay on the election result. Kumar also prayed for fresh elections under the supervision of a retired High Court judge. However, the high court did not grant stay, only issued notice in the case and listed it for further hearing on February 26.
4) AAP candidate moves Supreme Court against the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s refusal to grant an immediate stay on the Chandigarh Mayor election result in which a BJP candidate was declared as Mayor of Chandigarh Municipal Corporation.
5) On February 5, a bench of CJI DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra heard the petition by AAP candidate and slammed Masih for his conduct and called what happened in mayoral elections "murder of democracy".
"It is obvious that he defaced the ballot papers. Is this the way he conducts the elections? This is a mockery of democracy. This is a murder of democracy. This man should be prosecuted," CJI Chandrachud said while passing orders.
6) The apex court asked Masih to explain his conduct to court in person in the next hearing. The case has been listed for further hearing today. The CJI expressed dismay over the videos that surfaced from the elections and asked why Masih was looking at the CCTV camera while counting ballot papers. He also warned Masih, saying that the top court is watching him.
7) The top court ordered that the entire record of Chandigarh Mayor elections be sequestered under custody of Punjab & Haryana High Court Registrar General. The court also deferred the February 7 meeting of the Municipal Corporation.
8) The court also took a prima facie view and said that the high court failed to pass an order to protect the sanctity of the electoral process.
9) On February 18, just one day before the next hearing in the Supreme Court, the BJP candidate Manoj Sonkar resigned from the Mayor's office.
10) In another key development before the hearing, three Chandigarh AAP Councillors Gurcharan Kala, Punam Devi and Neha Musawat joined the BJP.
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