This is Murder Of Democracy…: Supreme Court on Chandigarh Mayoral Polls

“Why is he looking at the camera and running like a fugitive? This is the murder of democracy,” said the Supreme Court of India on Monday as it came down heavily on the presiding officer of Chandigarh Mayor Polls who declared BJP's Manoj Sonkar as the winner by four votes after invalidating eight votes of the AAP-Congress alliance. The Chandigarh Mayoral Polls last week were mired in controversy after a video went viral showing chaos inside the house during the counting of votes when Presiding Officer Anil Masih - a member of the BJP's Minority Cell was seen to be scribbling on the ballot papers of some of the AAP councillors’ before putting them into the record. Eventually, those ballots were declared invalid, resulting in an edge to BJP over AAP’s Kuldeep Kumar.

"Is this the way he conducts the elections? It is obvious he defaced the ballot papers. This is a mockery of democracy. It is clearly visible in the video... he is looking into the camera and spoiling the ballot paper...This is the murder of democracy. This man should be prosecuted," Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud remarked after seeing the video of the controversial election.

Aam Aadmi Party along with allies including Congress had claimed to have the comfortable majority to stake claim of the Mayor’s post. AAP had moved to Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking a stay on the immediate election, but the petition was set aside. AAP councilor Kuldeep Kumar later moved to the Supreme Court challenging the High Court’s refusal to entertain the petition. The Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra has now ordered the Punjab and Haryana High Court to secure all ballot papers and records including video evidence of the election by 5 pm on Monday and fixed the next date of hearing as February 12. The records of the elections are directed to be kept with the registrar general of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The records are in the possession of The Deputy Commissioner of Chandigarh UT.