The Supreme Court will on Tuesday, February 20, scrutinise the ballot papers of the Chandigarh mayoral election and video recording of the counting after expressing concerns regarding potential "horse-trading" and the disputed victory of the BJP.
This comes after Monday's hearing, during which the top court came down heavily on Returning Officer Anil Masih, saying that he must be prosecuted for "defacing ballot papers". It also ordered Masih to remain present in court on Tuesday as well.
The BJP won the Chandigarh mayoral polls on January 30, defeating the comfortably placed AAP-Congress alliance candidate after the returning officer declared as invalid eight votes of the coalition partners, drawing accusations of tampering with ballots.
BJP’s Manoj Sonkar defeated AAP’s Kuldeep Kumar after polling 16 votes against his rival's 12 to bag the mayor's post. Sonkar, however, resigned subsequently, while three AAP councillors defected to the BJP.
Alleging forgery and foul play, defeated mayoral candidate Kuldeep Kumar moved the Supreme Court after the Punjab and Haryana High Court refused to grant an immediate stay on the poll result.
While hearing Kumar's petition yesterday, a bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud voiced displeasure over the way the Chandigarh mayoral election was conducted.
"This business of horse-trading should be stopped and that is why we want to see the ballot papers," it added.
To this, the returning officer admitted to putting ‘X’ marks on the eight ballot papers to ensure they do not get mixed.
"It means you marked it," the CJI said, adding he has to be prosecuted and "this cannot be allowed in an electoral democracy".
