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Chandigarh mayoral election fiasco: AAP will move SC for early hearing on plea, says Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann
The Punjab CM’s statement came hours after the high court refused to give a stay order on the mayoral elections
Hours after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) failed to get a stay order on the Chandigarh mayoral elections, Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday said the party will move the Supreme Court for an early hearing of its petition.
Mann, who was talking to select reporters after a meeting in Chandigarh, termed the mayoral elections “an example of murder of democracy”.
On Tuesday, the AAP and Congress, which had come together as part of the INDIA bloc to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the mayoral elections, had cried foul after the results were declared, stating that the presiding officer, Anil Masih, had tampered with the ballot papers.
With a combined strength of 20 in the 35-member House, the INDIA bloc had been sure of a win against the BJP, which had only 15 votes – 14 councillors and one of the city MP who is the ex-officio member of the House. However, the scales tilted in BJP’s favour after the presiding officer declared eight votes invalid. As per the results, BJP’s Manoj Sonkar, who was declared the mayor, had polled 16 votes while AAP-Congress joint candidate Kuldeep Dhalor managed only 12 votes.
Dhalor then moved the Punjab and Haryana high court seeking fresh elections.
The court on Wednesday declined to restrain the newly elected BJP mayor from discharging his functions while the matter is in court. It also refused to issue directions to the UT administration to preserve the records of the elections.
The court, however, issued notices to the UT administration, the presiding officer, Anil Masih, the Chandigarh director general of police and the newly elected mayor Manoj Kumar Sonkar to respond to the plea within three weeks.
Commenting on this, Punjab CM Mann said, “It is all there in the video (purportedly showing ballot tampering). What report will the Chandigarh administration give in three weeks?”
Can’t pass on order without hearing UT: HC
As the hearing began before the bench of justice Sudhir Singh and justice Harsh Bunger on Wednesday morning, senior advocate Gurminder Singh, appearing for the AAP mayoral candidate, submitted that the administration gave Masih a “free hand” as the deputy commissioner left the election process midway and DGP was not even present during the elections. All this transpired even as the UT had undertaken before the court that they would ensure “free and fair elections”, Singh argued.
“...the gentleman appointed (presiding officer) has tampered with the ballot papers on live camera, the man himself marks on the ballot paper and rejects for the reason that it was marked…eight votes were manipulated, councilors who were counting agents were not shown the invalid votes,” Singh submitted adding that video of the entire process had been provided with the plea.
UT’s senior standing counsel Anil Mehta submitted that the result of the election should not be stayed as it is being challenged on the basis of the disputed questions of fact. He also questioned the maintainability of the plea.
HC posts matter for Feb 26
The court, while giving three weeks’ time to the respondents, posted the matter for hearing on February 26, while orally observing that whether the counting was proper or not and whether or not the procedure was followed are questions of facts and a decision on it can only be taken after hearing both parties.
“... we are in post-poll (period). Things are different now. We can’t debar them (UT from filing its response to the petition)… we are not shying away,” the bench observed as Gurminder Singh kept pressing for either a stay on elections or a restraint order against the newly elected mayor from discharging his functions.
