Picture : ANI / X
Appalled by the alleged defacing of ballot papers in the Chandigarh mayoral polls, the Supreme Court has said this is a mockery of democracy and ordered that the ballots and the video of the electoral proceedings be preserved.
A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra expressed annoyance after watching the video of the electoral proceedings and said that, prima facie, the returning officer was “defacing” the ballot papers.
“This is a mockery of democracy. We are appalled by what has happened. We will not allow democracy to be murdered like this,” the CJI said.
The bench ordered that the ballot papers and the video recordings of the proceedings be preserved.
One of the AAP councillors had moved the top court challenging a Punjab and Haryana high court order that refused to grant any interim relief to the party seeking fresh mayoral polls in Chandigarh.
The BJP on January 30 swept the Chandigarh mayoral polls against the Congress-AAP alliance.
Manoj Sonkar of the Bharatiya Janata Party had defeated the AAP’s Kuldeep Kumar for the mayor’s post, polling 16 votes against his rival’s 12.
Eight votes were declared invalid.
On Chandigarh Mayoral Elections, AAP Punjab Chief Spokesperson Malwinder Kang told reporters at media briefing , “…India is the largest democracy in the world. BJP has humiliated the entire country. This is not the defeat of AAP and Congress. This is an insult to the mandate given by the people of Chandigarh. The way the SC has given clear directions to hand over the process to the registrar of the High Court stayed the proceedings of the budget session, and on 12 February final verdict will be announced only then will justice be finally delivered to the people of Chandigarh. BJP’s cheap politics has been exposed in front of the country…”
