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NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday sought entire record of election process including ballot papers, videography and other material through Registrar General of Punjab and Haryana HC of the Chandigarh mayor elections. The top court also ordered indefinite deferment of Chandigarh civic body’s first meeting scheduled for February 7.
The apex cout was hearing a plea filed by AAP councillor Kuldeep Singh challenging the Punjab and Haryana high court order that refused to grant any interim relief to the party seeking fresh mayoral polls in Chandigarh.
The AAP-Congress alliance lost the election despite having 20 councillors. Eight out of 36 votes were declared invalid by presiding authority Anil Masih, a nominated councilor, with no voting right. BJP candidate Manoj Sonkar got 16 votes, while the AAP-Congress alliance candidate Kuldeep Singh got 12 despite having 20 councillors.
In a hard-hitting critique of the process in which the returning officer cancelled eight votes of AAP-Cong combine, a bench led by CJI D Y Chandrachud said that the RO (returning officer) appears to have defaced the ballots and needs to be prosecuted.
“This is a mockery of democracy. RO is murdering democracy. We are simply appalled by what he is doing. Is this the way election is conducted by a RO? We will not allow democracy to be murdered this way. The man defaces ballots the moment he sees a cross at bottom,” the CJI said.
“Tell your RO that the SC is watching over him. We will not allow democracy to be murdered like this. The only great stabilizing force in this country is the purity of the democracy,” the CJI said.
AAP termed the poll as “unconstitutional and illegal” and an act of “deshdroh” (treason). Delhi chief minister and AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal accused the BJP of “stealing” the elections.
The row over the civic polls triggered a massive political slugfest over the weekend, with both AAP and BJP staging protests and counter-protests within a few hundred metres of each other in the national capital.
A total of 48 BJP and 15 Aam Aadmi Party workers were detained as they tried to breach barricades during the protests.
(With inputs from PTI)
The apex cout was hearing a plea filed by AAP councillor Kuldeep Singh challenging the Punjab and Haryana high court order that refused to grant any interim relief to the party seeking fresh mayoral polls in Chandigarh.
The AAP-Congress alliance lost the election despite having 20 councillors. Eight out of 36 votes were declared invalid by presiding authority Anil Masih, a nominated councilor, with no voting right. BJP candidate Manoj Sonkar got 16 votes, while the AAP-Congress alliance candidate Kuldeep Singh got 12 despite having 20 councillors.
In a hard-hitting critique of the process in which the returning officer cancelled eight votes of AAP-Cong combine, a bench led by CJI D Y Chandrachud said that the RO (returning officer) appears to have defaced the ballots and needs to be prosecuted.
“This is a mockery of democracy. RO is murdering democracy. We are simply appalled by what he is doing. Is this the way election is conducted by a RO? We will not allow democracy to be murdered this way. The man defaces ballots the moment he sees a cross at bottom,” the CJI said.
“Tell your RO that the SC is watching over him. We will not allow democracy to be murdered like this. The only great stabilizing force in this country is the purity of the democracy,” the CJI said.
AAP termed the poll as “unconstitutional and illegal” and an act of “deshdroh” (treason). Delhi chief minister and AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal accused the BJP of “stealing” the elections.
The row over the civic polls triggered a massive political slugfest over the weekend, with both AAP and BJP staging protests and counter-protests within a few hundred metres of each other in the national capital.
A total of 48 BJP and 15 Aam Aadmi Party workers were detained as they tried to breach barricades during the protests.
(With inputs from PTI)
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