NEW DELHI: The
Supreme Court
on Tuesday came down heavily on
returning officer
(RO)
Anil Masih
in the
Chandigarh mayoral polls
and ordered his
criminal prosecution
for his 'misdemeanour' during the counting of votes.
"It is evident that the presiding officer (Masih) is guilty of serious misdemeanour in doing what he did in his role and capacity as a presiding officer," a bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said.
Setting aside the January 30 poll result, the top court declared defeated AAP-Congress alliance candidate Kuldeep Kumar as winner of the Chandigarh mayoral polls.
The bench, comprising Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra, instructed the registrar (judicial) of the apex court to issue a showcause notice to Masih as to why proceedings should not be initiated against him under section 340 of the Code of Criminal Procedure for allegedly making false statement before the court.
Masih has been given three weeks to respond to the notice, after which the matter will be further addressed.
In its ruling, the Supreme Court bench said Masih's conduct as the presiding officer was deprecated on two fronts.
"Firstly, by his conduct he has unlawfully altered the course of the mayoral election... Secondly, in making a solemn statement before this court on February 19, the presiding officer expressed falsehood for which he must be held accountable," the bench said.
The bench highlighted that prior to recording Masih's statement during hearing, the court had cautioned him about the serious consequences if any false statement was made.
Following the Chandigarh mayoral polls on January 30, where the BJP emerged victorious, controversy arose when the returning officer invalidated eight votes from the coalition partners, leading to accusations of ballot tampering.
Manoj Sonkar of the BJP secured victory with 16 votes against Kuldeep Kumar's 12, claiming the mayor's post. However, Sonkar subsequently resigned, and three AAP councillors switched allegiance to the BJP.
In its judgment, the bench observed that Masih had deliberately invalidated eight ballots cast in favor of Kumar to manipulate the outcome in favor of Sonkar.
"During the course of these proceedings, for the above reasons, we have come to the conclusion that the result which was declared by the presiding officer is clearly contrary to law and will have to be set aside. We order accordingly," it said.
The bench noted that the votes contained in the eight invalidated ballot papers, as observed by Masih, were legitimately cast in favor of Kumar.
The apex court said that Masih, in his capacity as the returning officer, had clearly exceeded the bounds of his authority as stipulated by statutory regulations.
"We accordingly order and direct that the result of the election as declared by the presiding officer stands quashed and set aside. The petitioner (Kumar) is declared to be the validly elected candidate for election as mayor of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation," the bench said.
In his statement before the court on Monday, Masih claimed that he had not only signed the ballot papers but also marked an 'X' on eight of them during the vote counting process to denote them as defaced.
However, upon examination of the ballot papers during the hearing and review of the video recording of the counting process, the bench found that none of these papers were defaced as asserted by Masih.
Masih, a nominated municipal councillor associated with the BJP's minority wing since 2015, has been actively involved in party activities.
He was nominated as a councillor in the Chandigarh civic body in October 2022.
(With input from agencies)
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