The Supreme Court will hear Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Councillor Kuldeep Kumar's petition on Monday against Punjab and Haryana High Court’s refusal to grant an immediate stay on the Chandigarh Mayor election result in which a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate was declared as Mayor of Chandigarh Municipal Corporation.
A bench of CJI DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra will hear the petition on Monday.
The controversial Mayoral poll in Chandigarh reached the apex court after the high court refused to immediately stay the election result after the INDIA Bloc claimed that the elections were won by the BJP by forgery. The AAP councilor sought fresh elections under the supervision of a retired High Court judge.
However, the high court only issued notice in the case and listed it for further hearing on February 26.
Manoj Sonkar, the Mayor candidate from BJP was elected as the Mayor on Tuesday after winning 16 votes against the 12 votes received by the Congress-AAP candidate Kuldeep Kumar.
The presiding officer Anil Masih rejected 8 votes as invalid while counting. Kumar then moved the Punjab and Haryana high court alleging fraud by BJP. The AAP Councillor alleged that the rejection of the eight votes was done by forgery.
After the high court on Wednesday refused to stay the results, a Special Leave Petition (SLP) was filed by Kumar in the Supreme Court on Thursday.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann had said on Wednesday that the party will move the top court for an early hearing in the matter.
"Today will go down in history as a 'black day' in our country's democracy. Unfortunately, this is the same month that we commemorate Republic Day. Today, the Constitution has been shredded. The BJP 'looted' the Chandigarh mayor election in front of the media and cameras. Previously, they did this in Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra, and the northeastern states. So this is their old habit," Mann stated during a press conference.
The row over the elections erupted after AAP and Congress who jointly contested the Mayoral elections under the INDIA bloc 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 reveal that the Masih shuffled the votes from one basket to another and tampered with ballot papers.
“The video is clear. What report does Chandigarh Administration have to give in three weeks,” Mann said while addressing the media on the high court's order.