CJI Questions: The Supreme Court has declared Aam Aadmi Party councilor Kuldeep Kumar the winner and Mayor of Chandigarh. Along with this, the court has also ordered to prosecute election officer Anil Masih for misconduct. The Supreme Court has said that in the Chandigarh Mayor election, it is clear that the presiding officer has deliberately tried to tamper with eight ballot papers.
The matter reached the court when CCTV footage showed that Returning Officer Anil Masih was putting cross marks on 8 ballot papers which were later declared invalid.
A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Mishra heard the petition of defeated candidate Kuldeep Kumar (Aam Aadmi Party).
Kuldeep Kumar had accused returning officer Anil Masih of misconduct in the elections. During the hearing, the Supreme Court examined the ballot papers and watched the video recording. Which was presented by a judicial officer appointed by the Registrar General of Punjab and Haryana High Court.
Chief Justice Chandrachud initially said that he would like to see the ballot papers which were declared invalid. Referring to “horse-trading”, the Supreme Court had said that it will investigate the entire video-recording of the ballot papers and the counting day of the Chandigarh Mayor election.
On the first day of the hearing, the court had said that instead of ordering fresh voting, declaring the results on the basis of votes already cast can be considered. During this, Supreme Court Chief Justice Chandrachud also asked some questions to Returning Officer Anil Masih, while answering which he appeared completely confused.
What questions did Chandrachud ask Anil Masih?
Question: Mr. Masih, we have seen the video… you were looking at the camera and putting cross marks on the ballot paper. Why did you put these marks?
Answer- Cross marks were put after voting. The reason behind this was so that the ballot papers which were tampered with could be separated.
Question- Watching the video shows that you have made cross marks on the ballot papers. Did you really write anything on the ballot papers? The correct answer is yes or no.
Answer : Yes, cross marks were placed on some ballot papers.
Question- Why did you tamper with the ballot papers? You just had to sign. Where did you read this rule that you can also write anything on the ballot papers?
Answer- These candidates had tampered with the ballot papers. They snatched and spoiled the ballot papers.
Supreme Court Chief Justice Chandrachud Singh was not satisfied with this answer and said that a case should be initiated against him. They have interfered in the election process.
What was the result before this?
BJP had won the Chandigarh mayor election on January 30 against the Congress-AAP alliance. BJP’s Manoj Sonkar defeated AAP’s Kuldeep Kumar for the post of mayor. Sonkar got 16 votes against his rival’s 12 votes. Eight votes were declared invalid. The votes declared invalid became the cause of controversy. It was revealed in the CCTV that Returning Officer Anil Masih was tampering with the ballot papers by putting crosses on them.
