Supreme Court Appoints Retd P&H HC Judge As Independent Observer To Physically Supervise Chandigarh Mayoral Elections On Jan 30

In a plea filed by Chandigarh Mayor Kuldeep Kumar, the Supreme Court today appointed former Punjab and Haryana High Court judge Justice Jaishree Thakur as an Independent Observer to supervise the Chandigarh Mayoral Elections scheduled for January 30. The election proceedings shall take place in the physical presence of the Observer, the Court said.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh heard the matter and ordered the appointment, following a no-objection given by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta on behalf of the Municipal Corporation.

The order was dictated thus: 

"He (Kuldeep Kumar) approached the High Court seeking a direction to defer the election till 20 February, 2025 on the premise that he will complete the actual tenure on that date. That prayer has been declined by the High Court. On previous date of hearing...we were also not inclined to interfere with view taken by High Court. However, notice was issued for the limited purpose of appointing an independent observer to ensure that the election is conducted in a free and fair manner on the scheduled date. In this regard, Mr Tushar Mehta, ld. Solicitor General of India, representing the Corporation, fairly states that he has no objection if an Independent Observer is appointed by this Court. In light of the virtually agreeable stand taken on both sides, we deem it appropriate to appoint Ms. Justice Jaishree Thakur, former Judge of Punjab & Haryana High Court as Independent Observer. The election proceedings shall be conducted in the physical presence of the ld. Observer. The election proceedings will be duly videographed...The ld. Observer will be entitled to an honorarium of...All necessary security arrangements shall also be made."

To recap, Chandigarh Mayor Kuldeep Kumar (Aam Aadmi Party) filed the instant case seeking conduct of the elections by 'show of hands' as well as appointment of an Independent Observer to supervise the elections, citing last year's fiasco (when ballot papers were found to have been defaced by the Presiding Officer and election results set aside). Last week, the Court issued notice to the UT administration for the limited purpose of appointment of an Independent Observer.

Today, SG Mehta, appearing for the Municipal Corporation, submitted that "history may not repeat itself everytime". Be that as it may, if the Court deems it fit to appoint an Independent Observer, the Corporation has no objection. Accordingly, the Court passed its order.

Background

Last year, Kuldeep Kumar moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court alleging vote tampering in the Chandigarh Mayor Elections where initially Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Manoj Sonkar emerged victorious. The BJP candidate secured 16 votes against the 12 votes received by Kuldeep Kumar (candidate backed by Congress and AAP). It was claimed that the Presiding Officer (Anil Masih) rejected 8 votes as invalid.

On February 20, finding the results announced by the Presiding Officer to be illegal, the Supreme Court set them aside and declared Kuldeep Kumar as the Mayor of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation. It was held that the Presiding Officer deliberately defaced 8 ballots which were cast in favor of Kuldeep Kumar so as to make them invalid.

Subsequent to this, the General House of Municipal Corporation, recognizing the shortcomings in the voting process, is stated to have passed a table agenda to alter the manner of conducting the Mayoral elections. However, a letter was apparently issued by the concerned Deputy Commissioner, deciding to conduct the election without considering the table resolution (to conduct the mayoral poll by show of hands instead of ballot paper).

Aggrieved, Kuldeep Kumar approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking quashing of the election schedule, which was set for January 24. The High Court set aside the notification and directed to re-schedule the polls after January 29. Further, it ordered Kuldeep Kumar to continue tenure as mayor till then. Following this order, Kuldeep Kumar approached the Supreme Court.

Appearance: Senior Advocate Gurminder Singh, Advocate Ferry Sofat and AoRs Karan Sharma, Vivek Jain (for petitioner); SG Tushar Mehta (for Municipal Corporation)

Case Title: KULDEEP KUMAR Versus U.T. CHANDIGARH AND ORS., Diary No. 4190-2025