Chandigarh: The Supreme Court has ordered the production of the ballot papers and video of the counting of votes in Chandigarh mayoral polls by 2 pm on Tuesday. The court also rapped the Returning Officer who presided over the polls, saying that he must be prosecuted for “defacing ballot papers”.
Hearing a petition alleging foul play in the mayoral election, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud also asked the deputy commissioner to appoint a new returning officer who was not associated with any political party.
“This business of horse-trading should be stopped and that is why we want to see the ballot papers tomorrow itself,” it added.
The BJP swept the January 30 Chandigarh mayoral polls, retaining all three posts, and defeating the Congress-AAP alliance. The AAP then moved the Supreme Court demanding fresh polls, accusing Returning Officer Anil Masih of “fraud and forgery” in the election process.
The Supreme Court had summoned Anil Masih to physically appear before the bench during the hearing. On Monday, the bench asked him about the video and why he was looking into the CCTV.
To this, the Masih replied that all the ballot papers were defaced and he was just marking them. “There were so many cameras that I was just looking at them,” he said.
The bench then asked him why he marked the ballot papers, Anil Masih said he did it so that ballot papers did not get mixed.
“That means you marked it. He has to be prosecuted. In an electoral democracy, this cannot be allowed,” the bench remarked.
A day before the hearing, Manoj Sonkar of the Bharatiya Janata Party resigned as Chandigarh mayor on Sunday night, a day before the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a plea alleging irregularities in the recently held mayoral polls. This followed the resignations of three Aam Aadmi Party councillors – Punam Devi, Neha Musawat, and Gurcharan Kala – in Chandigarh who had gone incommunicado three days ago and joined the BJP on Sunday night, citing “unhappiness” with the Arvind Kejriwal-led party.
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