Abhijit Ray
Kolkata:Noting how democracy was thwarted at the grassroots,that too,by misusing the office of the Returning Officer to change the course of the
election results,the Supreme Court on Tuesday flexed its extraordinary constitutional power under Article 142 to deliver Aam Aadmi Party a victory by declaring its candidate, Kuldeep Kumar,validly elected as Chandigarh Mayor.
The Mayor Polls in Chandigarh was held on January 30. The Congress and the AAP had joined hands to take on the BJP.
The BJP has moved to the Supreme Court over the Chandigarh mayoral election but lost their battle at The Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court has declared valid the eight votes declared null and void by the presiding officer.
The Supreme Court then recounted the votes and declared AAP candidate Kuldeep Kumar Singh as the mayor.
The mayoral election in Chandigarh was held on January 30.The Congress and the AAP had joined hands to take on the BJP.
AAP-Congress alliance candidate Kuldeep Singh was leading in the first election.The alliance got 20 out of 36 valid votes.
On the other hand,BJP’s mayoral candidate Manoj Sonkar got 16 votes. However,Presiding Officer Anil Masi later declared eight votes of Kuldeep invalid.
As a result,the opposition vote came down to 12.The BJP candidate was declared the winner after getting 16 votes.
The AAP and the Congress protested against the manner in which eight votes cast in favour of the opposition candidate were rejected.
AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal called the incident “murder of democracy”. Congress also protested.The opposition had approached the Supreme Court. Finally,the Supreme Court was relieved.
The Supreme Court on Monday pulled up the presiding officer of the Chandigarh mayoral election.A bench headed by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud said that the eight votes which have been declared invalid, those will be counted as valid votes and a new vote will be counted.
The apex court then counted the 36 votes again. AAP candidate Kuldeep Kumar Singh won the mayoral election by securing 20 votes.
The announcement is being seen as a huge victory for the India alliance. This was the first time that the AAP and the Congress contested the polls as an alliance.
