Supreme Court Upholds AAP’s Kuldeep Kumar as Winner of Chandigarh Mayoral Election

The Supreme Court’s ruling on Tuesday overturned the outcome of the Chandigarh mayoral elections, declaring Aam Aadmi Party’s candidate, Kuldeep Kumar, as the rightful winner. This decision stemmed from the invalidation of eight votes by the returning officer, Anil Masih, which the court deemed to be legitimate and in favor of the AAP candidate. Consequently, Kuldeep Kumar was directed to assume the mayoral position with a total of 20 votes.

Previously, Manoj Sonkar of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had been declared the winner, securing 16 votes against Kumar’s 12. However, Sonkar subsequently resigned from the post, and three AAP councilors switched allegiance to the BJP.

The Supreme Court clarified that it was not annulling the entire electoral process but addressing irregularities in the counting process that led to the invalidation of eight votes for Kumar. Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, heading the bench, directed the Registrar Judicial to initiate perjury proceedings against Anil Masih for providing false information to the court.

Masih had initially claimed that he marked the ballots as defaced, leading to their invalidation. However, the court found no evidence of defacement until after the poll results were announced. During the proceedings, CJI Chandrachud criticized Masih for his statement, pointing out inconsistencies in his explanation.

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Addressing Masih directly, the CJI questioned his earlier assertion that the ballots were defaced, highlighting the lack of evidence to support such a claim. Masih had previously stated that he marked the ballots to prevent them from being mixed up, attributing his actions to the presence of numerous cameras during the process.