Setback for BJP; Chandigarh mayor election results annulled by Supreme Court, victory for Aam Aadmi-Congress alliance

CHANDIGARH: BJP suffered a heavy blow after the Supreme Court annulled the results of the Chandigarh mayoral election. After examining the video footage of tampering with the ballot paper, the court ordered action against the electoral officer. Later, AAP mayoral candidate Kuldeep Kumar, who is also the petitioner in the case, was declared the winner of the election. A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud held that the eight ballots annulled by Returning Officer Anil Masih were valid and in favor of AAP's mayoral candidate Kuldeep Kumar.

The bench pointed out that Electoral Officer Anil Masih made a deliberate attempt to subvert the eight votes cast in favor of the petitioner. The court, after examining the video footage, had verbally observed that the Electoral Officer should be prosecuted saying that democracy had been slaughtered. The court had said that Masih should be prosecuted while considering the case.

In the elections held on January 30, BJP got 16 votes and Aam Aadmi Party got 12 votes. The Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party contested the elections together with the aim of ending the eight-year BJP rule in Chandigarh. But in the mayoral election, electoral officer declared eight votes of the Congress-Aam Aadmi Party alliance invalid. With this, BJP candidate Manoj Sonkar won as mayor.