Gourav Chandigarh: Setting aside the election of the BJP candidate as declared by the Returning Officer, the Supreme Court on Tuesday declared AAP councillor Kuldeep Kumar as the Mayor of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation during the hearing of the contentious Chandigarh mayoral election case. The apex court was dealing with a plea filed by INDIA bloc’s mayoral candidate Kuldeep Kumar accusing Returning Officer Anil Masih of allegedly “defacing the ballots” during the Chandigarh mayoral polls held on January 30. Kumar had accused the Returning Officer of resorting to fraud and forgery in the counting process.
Reacting to the development, Kumar said that it is a victory of democracy and the residents of Chandigarh. As the apex court gave the verdict, celebrations broke out at the AAP office here. During the hearing, Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud ordered that the votes cast during the polls be counted again, treating the ballots defaced by Returning Officer Anil Masih as valid.
Setting aside the January 30 results as “contrary to law”, the bench, also comprising Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, refused to quash the entire electoral process. Responding to the verdict, Delhi CM and AAP National Convener Arvind Kejriwal told the media, “I think this has happened for the first time in India’s history. We thank the Supreme Court.” (IANS)
Its ‘Triumph of Democracy and Truth’- CM Mann on verdict by Supreme Court on Chandigarh Mayor poll
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann on Tuesday welcomed the verdict of the Supreme Court of India on the election of Mayor in Chandigarh Municipal Corporation and described it as the ‘Triumph of democracy and truth’. The Chief Minister said that it is a befitting reply to the high handedness of the BJP which had murdered the democracy to satiate its lust of attaining power in the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation. He reiterated that January 30 will be remembered as the ‘darkest day’ in the annals of Indian polity as BJP led Union government has murdered democracy during the election for post of Mayor in Chandigarh. However, Bhagwant Singh Mann said that the verdict by the Apex court has restored the faith of people in the entire democratic process.The Chief Minister said that it is the victory of democracy and the entire country in general and Chandigarh in particular should rejoice in this historic decision.
Bhagwant Singh Mann said that BJP has a chronic habit of toppling democratically elected governments but this decision will stall this unconstitutional trend. Bhagwant Singh Mann said that this is a historic occasion as the court has made every democracy lover happy by setting aside the rigging of poll done by the Presiding officer on the behest of BJP. The Chief Minister said that the court rejected the atrocious decision of the presiding officer to invalidate eight legal votes.
He said that the reinstating of the eight votes has paved the way for Kuldeep Kumar of the AAP to become democratically elected Mayor of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation. Bhagwant Singh Mann said that the entire country is today indebted to the Apex court for this decision, which will go a long way in further strengthening the ethos of democracy in the nation. (IANS)
