Anil Masih, the Returning Officer for the Chandigarh Municipal polls, appeared earlier than a bench of the Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Of India DY Chandrachud, Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra yesterday in reference to the alleged malpractice within the polls. The CJI posed harsh inquiries to Masih over the allegations of defacing ballots. The bench expressed concern over the ‘horse buying and selling’ and slammed Anil Masih saying he have to be prosecuted for ‘defacing poll papers’.
The bench requested Masih why he had made cross and tick marks on the poll papers whereas counting them whereas he was solely required to signal on the backside. “This is a very serious matter. All that you say… if any falsehood you will be prosecuted… Why were you looking into the camera and putting marks in the ballot papers?” requested CJI Chandrachud.
Masih replied that he was simply marking the poll papers that have been defaced and that there have been so many cameras that he was simply taking a look at them.
The returning workplace knowledgeable the apex courtroom that he had made the marks on eight poll papers, solely to set them aside. “That means you marked it. He has to be prosecuted. In an electoral democracy, this cannot be allowed,” the bench stated.
The prime courtroom got here down closely on the returning officer who held the Chandigarh Mayor elections saying he was ‘murdering democracy’ and ordered the preservation of a whole document of the election course of together with poll papers, videography and different materials by means of Registrar General of Punjab and Haryana High Court.
The Supreme Court ordered that the poll papers and video which have been taken into custody by the Registrar General of Punjab and Haryana High Court be produced earlier than the apex courtroom at 2 pm immediately.
Reacting to the three AAP councillors becoming a member of the BJP, the bench stated that it is deeply involved concerning the horse-trading which is going down. The apex courtroom was listening to a plea of AAP’s councillor Kuldeep Dhalor after the BJP received the mayoral election following the Returning Officer’s transfer of scrapping eight opposition votes.
Aam Aadmi Party’s councillor Dhalor misplaced the mayor election to Bharatiya Janata Party’s Manoj Sonkar on January 30. Sonkar resigned from his put up late on February 18, forward of the resumption of listening to immediately within the apex courtroom. BJP’s Sonkar bagged 16 votes in opposition to the 12 votes obtained by Dhalor regardless of having 20 councillors. The motion of rejecting eight votes of the AAP-Congress alliance as invalid had sparked allegations of vote tempering.
