The Aam Aadmi Party on Tuesday hailed the Supreme Court order on Chandigarh mayor election, which declared the party’s candidate Kuldeep Kumar as the winner.
‘Thank you SC for saving democracy in these difficult times! #ChandigarhMayorPolls,’ Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal posted on X after the apex court bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud ordered the recount of eight ballots declared as ‘invalid’ by returning officer Anil Masih.
AAP Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal posted on X, ‘This country is still run by democracy.. This is a big slap on the cheeks of vote thieves. Big victory for AAP! Thank you Hon’ble SC.’
Delhi Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said about the Supreme Court decision, ‘The biggest political party of the world, BJP was seen doing malpractices – on camera – in a mayoral election. This is a matter of concern for the country. What would the party be doing where there is no camera and no microphone?’
‘How can you trust the Central Government at all those places? Supreme Court has exposed the Central Government in this matter…Central Government’s topmost advocate represented the Presiding Officer before the Supreme Court…,’ Bharadwaj added.
Congress reacts to Supreme Court verdict
Congress which fought the Chandigarh mayor election in an alliance with AAP has called the SC ruling ‘historic.’.
‘What happened in Supreme Court is totally historic in the history of Chandigarh. Never before has this happened…Everybody knows what happened in the mayoral election…Today, justice has prevailed…,’ said Chandigarh Congress chief Harmohinder Singh Lucky.
Supreme Court sets aside Jan 30 Chandigarh mayor election
The Supreme Court overturned the result of Chandigarh mayor election that had declared BJP’s Manoj Sonkar as the winner, sparking controversy.
The apex court made it clear that it was not quashing the entire electoral exercise for the Chandigarh mayor election, referring to the wrong-doings in the counting process in particular, which led to invalidation of eight votes cast in Kuldeep Kumar’s favour.
The court directed that the eight votes be treated as valid and in favour of Kuldeep Kumar. As a result, the AAP councilor was declared as winner with a total of 20 votes.
The Supreme Court also ordered prosecution of the returning officer for the Chandigarh mayor election, Anil Masih, a BJP leader, for his ‘misdemeanour’, after finding serious faults in the conduct of the January 30 election.
What happened in the Chandigarh mayor election
BJP was declared winner of the Chandigarh mayor election on January 30, defeating the AAP-Congress alliance candidate. The returning officer declared as invalid eight votes of the coalition partners, drawing accusations of tampering with ballots.
Manoj Sonkar of the BJP defeated AAP’s Kuldeep Kumar after polling 16 votes against his rival’s 12 to win the mayor’s post.
Later, Sonkar resigned from the mayor’s post.