Chandigarh Mayor Election | Supreme Court Initiates Criminal Proceedings Against Presiding Officer For False Statement That Ballots Were Invalid

The Supreme Court on Tuesday, came down heavily upon the Presiding Officer (PO) of the Chandigarh Mayoral Elections, Mr Anil Masih in light of his deliberate attempt to meddle with the election results during the vote counting process.  Setting aside the election results and declaring Mr Kuldeep Kumar of the AAP-INC Alliance as the rightful mayor of Chandigarh, the Court also initiated criminal proceedings under Section 340 of the Code of Criminal Procedure against Mr Masih for making false statements before the Court.

Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, while dictating the order, clearly observed that Mr Masih(a nominated councillor of Chandigarh Municipality who belonged to the BJP) was guilty of a misdemeanour as he deliberately tried to deface eight ballot papers in favour of the AAP-INC Candidate to declare them invalid and discount them from the final results. 

"It is evident that in each of the 8 ballots, the vote has been duly cast in favour of the petitioner. The Presiding Officer has evidently put his own mark for the purpose of creating a ground for treating the ballot as invalidly cast...it is evident that the Presiding Officer is guilty of a serious misdemeanour in doing what he did in his role and capacity as presiding officer," the CJI observed in the order.   

The Court found that a fit case has been made out against the PO under Section 340 CrPC for making false statements.  " Registrar Judicial is directed to issue a notice to Anil Masih, to show cause as to why steps should not be initiated against him under Section 340 CrPC."

It may be recalled that yesterday, Mr Masih in his personal appearance before the Court explained that he had put the markings on defaced ballot papers to ensure that they do not get mixed with other papers. However, the Court today, after physically examining the 8 ballot papers under contest, found that they were not defaced and that Mr.Masih's statement was false.

"Before recording the statement of the Presiding Officer in the above terms, we had placed him on notice of the serious consequences which are liable to ensue if he has found to have made a statement before this court which was incorrect," the Court observed today.

The Court deprecated the conduct of the PO at two levels, (1) he has unlawfully altered the course of Mayoral election and (2) in making a solemn statement before this Court on 19 Feb, the Presiding Officer expressed falsehood for which he must be held accountable. 

Setting Aside The Elections Would Compound The Destruction Of Democratic Principles - Bench In Declaring The Mayoral Results  

While the Court took note of the fact that the Incumbent Mayor, Mr Manohar Sonkar had resigned, it refused the option of ordering a re-election after setting aside the entire election process..

It observed : "We are of the view that it would be inappropriate to set aside the entire election process when the only infirmity is found at the stage when the counting of votes was recorded by the Presiding Officer. In allowing the entire election process to be set aside would compound the destruction of the fundamental democratic principles which has taken place as a consequence of the conduct of the Presiding Officer."  

Underlining the Court's powers to do complete justice under Article 142, the bench expressed its urgent need to quintessentially step in to safeguard the basis of electoral democracy. 

"This Court is duty bound, particularly in the context of Article 142 to do complete justice to ensure that the process of electoral democracy is not allowed to be thwarted by such subterfuge. By allowing such a step to take place would be disruptive of the most valued principles in the edifice of democracy in our country depends. We are therefore of the view that the Court must step in such exceptional circumstances to ensure that the basic mandate of electoral democracy albeit at the local participatory level is preserved."  

The Court noted that the 8 ballots, which were wrongly declared as invalid, have votes in favour of the AAP councillor. While the petitioner(AAP counciloor Kuldeep Kumar) got 12 votes, the 8 votes which were treated as invalid wrongly, were validly passed in favour of the petitioner. Adding the 8 votes would make his tally 20 votes. The 8th respondent(BJP candidate) on the other hand polled 16 votes.

In this backdrop, the Court further went on to declare the AAP-INC Candidate and Petitioner Mr Kuldeep Kumar as the lawful Mayor of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation and set aside the results declared by Mr.Anil Masih.

Also Read : Supreme Court Declares AAP Councillor As Chandigarh Mayor, Finds That Presiding Officer Deliberately Defaced Ballots

Case Details : KULDEEP KUMAR vs. U.T. CHANDIGARH SLP(C) No. 002998 - / 2024

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (SC) 146

Click Here To Read/Download Judgment