Supreme Court on Chandigarh Elections: “Won’t Allow Murder of Democracy”

The court will hear the case on February 12. Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party, which lost the Mayoral election last month to the BJP, has accused the Presiding Officer of rigging the election. They have demanded the arrest of the Presiding Officer for “tampering” with ballot papers. The election results favored the BJP after eight votes were declared invalid, despite the numbers favoring the AAP Congress alliance.

AAP staged protests in Delhi and Chandigarh and took the issue to court, presenting video evidence of the Returning Officer, Anil Masih, allegedly smudging ballot papers. According to AAP, all eight “invalid” votes had been for their party, which would have secured their victory. The Congress also alleged that the BJP workers tore up ballot papers and their agent was not allowed to see them. Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud criticized the Returning Officer’s actions as “the murder of democracy” and expressed the need for legal action against the officer.

The three-judge bench has frozen the budget session of the Chandigarh civic body until further orders. AAP’s petition calls for the cancellation of the election, sealing of the records, banning the mayor from assuming office, an investigation into the rigging, and a fresh election supervised by a retired High Court judge. The party escalated the matter to the top court after their plea for interim relief was rejected by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The BJP won the mayoral polls, with their candidate defeating AAP’s candidate.

The BJP has 14 councillors, AAP 13, and the Congress 7 in the 35-member corporation.