SC Overturns Chandigarh Mayor Election, AAP Candidate Declared Winner

New Delhi: In a major move, the Supreme Court on Tuesday overturned the results of the Chandigarh mayoral elections and declared the AAP candidate as the winner.

In this mayoral election, the Returning Officer invalidated eight ballot votes resulting in the BJP candidate’s win.

The Supreme Court’s order led to the declaration of the AAP mayoral candidate Kuldeep Kumar, who was also the petitioner in the case, as the winner of the election.

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and including Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra examined the ballot papers and concluded that the eight ballots, which were invalidated by Returning Officer Anil Masih, were valid and were cast in favour of AAP’s mayoral candidate Kuldeep Kumar.

The bench slammed Anil Masih for his intentional effort to deface eight ballots cast in favour of the AAp candidate.

“The conduct of a Presiding Officer has to depcrated at two levels. Firstly by his conduct, he has unlawfully altered the course of the mayoral election. Secondly, in making a statement before this court, the officer expressed a patent falsehood for which he must be held accountable,” the bench said.

The bench also initiated criminal proceedings under Section 340 of the CrPC against Anil Masih for making false statements before the court.

During the hearing on Monday, the Supreme Court noted that Masih should be prosecuted if found guilty of accusations levelled against him.