A significant ruling about the Chandigarh mayoral election has been rendered by the Supreme Court. The court has mandated that the votes that were cast in the mayoral election be recounted. Upon reviewing the ballots, the bench headed by the Chief Justice concluded that 8 votes in favour of AAP candidate Kuldeep Kumar were deemed invalid.
The Aam Aadmi Party can now become the mayor of Chandigarh as a result of this. The court declared that it would order a recount of the votes in the mayoral election. Not only this but the eight votes that were not accepted should also be regarded as invalid.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court held a noteworthy hearing regarding this case. The Chief Justice displayed the ballots to the attorneys and onlookers, stating that Kuldeep Kumar was stamped on each of the eight ballots that were ruled void. Anil Masih drew the line on these voting papers, according to the court. The court further questioned why the line was drawn and they were declared illegal when there was no irregularity.
In response, Anil Masih’s attorneys claimed that the voting had taken place in a less cordial environment. Anil Masih thought that in this case, these individuals might have been falsifying the ballots and escaping with them.
Supreme Court did not find Anil Masih’s reasoning good to withstand.
Anil Masih grabbed the ballot papers in this scenario, crossed them out, and declared them void.
The supreme court, however, did not appear to be pleased with his defence. We would like to inform you that three Aam Aadmi Party councillors have joined the BJP following the mayoralty elections.
If elections had been held again in that scenario, the only party that could have won mayor was the BJP.
After Supreme Court intervention AAP’s candidate becomes the Mayor of Chandigarh
On Tuesday, February 20, the results of the Chandigarh mayoral election were overturned, and Kuldeep Kumar, the candidate of the AAP-Congress alliance, was declared the victor.
This occurred the day after the Supreme Court ruled that the current ballots from the contentious election would be used to determine the results rather than conducting a recount. The court declared that it would review the ballots and the full video recording of the counting day on Tuesday.
Why was the Chandigarh Mayor election significant?
The Chandigarh municipal election was significant because it was the first time that the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had ever allied. In order to create the conditions for future alliances in other states during the Lok Sabha elections, the combine sought to challenge the BJP.
Who is Anil Masih?
In October 2022, Anil Masih, the former general secretary of the minority morcha cell for the BJP, was nominated as a councillor. A few days prior to the SC hearing, the BJP removed his name from the minority cell. Masih, a 53-year-old resident of Chandigarh’s PEC campus, has experience in marketing. His wife and two sons are part of his Ambala-born family.
What happened during the election?
With 16 votes, Sonkar won, and the alliance between the AAP and Congress received 12 votes. Masih declared eight votes invalid. Masih was accused by the Opposition of unfairly invalidating votes. They used videos purporting to show his meddling with voting papers to approach the Supreme Court as well as the High Courts of Punjab and Haryana.
How did the numbers stack up before the election?
In the Municipal Corporation, the AAP had thirteen council members and the Congress had seven. This resulted in an advantage of 20 out of the 35 members of the House. Thanks to the votes of the Chandigarh MP, an ex officio member of the House, and its 14 council members, the BJP received 15 votes. The MP for Chandigarh is Kirron Kher of the BJP. The House has one councillor from Akali Dal, a former BJP ally. Every year, the city’s elected council members choose the Chandigarh Mayor, who holds a one-year term.