The apex court ordered that the entire record of the mayor election should be sequestered and be kept with the Punjab & Haryana High Court Registrar General
Team Clarion
NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court on Monday castigated the conduct of the presiding officer in the recent Chandigarh mayoral elections by orally saying, “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 the murder of democracy. This man should be prosecuted,” Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud said.
Chandrachud’s remarks came after he watched a video of the controversial election, in which a BJP candidate was declared the winner after the votes of 8 candidates of the Congress-AAP alliance were declared invalid, a LiveLaw report said.
The CJI said that the court is “appalled” to see the behaviour of the presiding officer. “Why is he looking at the camera and running like a fugitive?”, CJI said after watching the video of the proceedings. The CJI said the presiding officer was seen making alterations to the ballot paper. “Tell him that the Supreme Court is watching him,” CJI said.
The bench comprising the Chief Justice, Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra was hearing a petition filed by AAP Councillor Kuldeep Kumar (the defeated Mayor candidate) challenging the refusal of the Punjab and Haryana High Court to stay the immediate election.
Issuing notice on Kumar’s petition, the court directed the ensuing meeting of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation scheduled on February 7 shall stand deferred. The court ordered that the entire record of the mayor election should be sequestered and be kept with the Punjab & Haryana High Court Registrar General and the ballots, and videography be preserved.
Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for the petitioner, submitted that a BJP candidate was chosen as the presiding officer and he acted in a partisan manner by deliberately defacing eight ballot papers of the Congress-AAP councillors and rendering their votes invalid.
Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta contended that the video only showed a one-sided picture and urged that the court should take a comprehensive view after seeing the entire records.
“An appropriate interim order was warranted which HC has failed to do,” the chief justice said sounding critical of the high court’s approach.
