8 months ago
12
Taking a strict view of the alleged defacement of ballot papers during the Chandigarh mayoral election, the Supreme Court has said that the returning officer, Anil Masih, should be prosecuted. The court said this after seeking answers from Mr Masih, marking the first time in the history of independent India that a returning officer has been cross-examined by the Chief Justice.
Conducting a hearing on a petition on the alleged irregularities in the election on Monday, a day after three AAP councillors switched over to the BJP, the Supreme Court also said that the "horsetrading" that is going on is a serious matter.
The court has asked for the ballot papers to be brought to it for examination on Tuesday. After initially proposing that, instead of carrying out a fresh election, the votes must be counted afresh by a new returning officer, the court said that it will decide on the issue after examining the ballot papers.
During the counting of the mayoral election on January 30, eight votes had been declared invalid by returning officer Anil Masih and the AAP's mayoral candidate had been defeated by Manoj Sonkar of the BJP with a margin of four votes. The AAP had claimed that Mr Masih - a member of the BJP's minority cell - had deliberately invalidated the votes.
English (US) ·