Arvind Kejriwal, the chief minister of Delhi and the leader of the Aam Aadmi Party, thanked the Supreme Court on Tuesday for “saving democracy” following its ruling on the Chandigarh municipal elections. Eight votes that the Returning Officer had declared illegal were found to be legitimate by the Supreme Court, which also ordered a recount of the votes in the Chandigarh mayoral election.
These eight votes were given to AAP candidate Kuldeep Kumar for mayor, the court stated in its ruling.
Arvind Kejriwal said on X shortly after the court’s decision, “Thank you SC (Supreme Court) for saving democracy in these difficult times!”
Following the BJP’s resounding victory in the Chandigarh mayoral elections on January 30, which saw them retain all three seats and beat the Congress-AAP coalition, the AAP has petitioned the Supreme Court for new elections. Returning Officer Anil Masih was charged by the AAP with “fraud and forgery” during the election process.
Additionally, a video of Anil Masih marking ballots while peeking at the CCTV became viral. Anil Masih was called by the Supreme Court to appear in person before the bench during the petition hearing. He was questioned about the viral footage by the bench.
Masih retorted that he was only marking the ballot papers since they had all been vandalised. “There were so many cameras that I was just looking at them,” he stated.
When the bench questioned him about why he had marked the ballots, Anil Masih replied that he had done so to prevent the papers from becoming mixed up. “So you marked it, right? He needs to face legal action. This cannot happen in an elective democracy,” the bench said.
Tuesday’s Chandigarh mayoral polls saw the Supreme Court suspend the Returning Officer and compel the release of ballot papers and a video of the vote counting process.
Chief Justice DY Chandrachud led a three-judge panel that said on Tuesday that “we are inclined to direct a recount of votes including these eight votes as valid.”
