The Supreme Court has been approached by the Aam Aadmi Party Councillor Kuldeep Kumar against Punjab and Haryana High Court order which refused to grant an immediate stay on election result in which a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate was declared as Mayor of Chandigarh Municipal Corporation.
It is important to note that the BJP’s candidate Manoj Sonkar was elected as the Mayor on Tuesday after he bagged 16 votes against the 12 votes received by the Congress-AAP candidate Kumar. Eight votes were rejected in the process as invalid.
The AAP Councillor filed a petition alleging fraud in BJP’s win and forgery in rejection of the eight votes.
The High Court has now issued notice and listed the matter for hearing after three weeks.
The division bench of Justice Sudhir Singh and Justice Harsh Bunger of the High Court have only recorded the submissions of counsel representing the petitioner and respondents and had adjourned the matter to February 26.
On 31st January,the Punjab and Haryana High Court sought response from the Chandigarh Administration and the Municipal Corporation on a plea alleging fraud in the election held yesterday for the post of Mayor of Chandigarh Municipal Corporation.
A division bench comprising Justice Sudhir Singh and Justice Harsh Bunger issued notice on Aam Aadmi Party Councillor Kuldeep Kumar’s plea. The bench asked the respondents to file their replies within two weeks.
However, the court did not pass any interim order for staying the election results. The Punjab and Haryana High Court was informed that the record of the election held on Tuesday Has already been preserved in the strong room.
On Tuesday, BJP leader Manoj Sonkar was elected as the Mayor after he got 16 votes against 12 votes received by the Congress-AAP candidate. Meanwhile, eight votes were rejected in the process as invalid.
The result was challenged by Aam Aadmi Party and Congress’s joint candidate Kuldeep Kumar who accused the Presiding officer of resorting to fraud and forgery in the counting process. In the petition, the joint candidate prayed for fresh election in a free and fair manner under the monitoring of a retired High Court judge.
Kuldeep Kumar also alleged that in complete departure of the practice and rules, the Presiding Officer denied to allow the nominees of parties to monitor the counting of votes. The petition stated that the Presiding Officer in most flimsy manner addressed to the House that he does not want any assistance from the members nominated by the parties contesting the election and that he will count the vote himself.
The plea claimed that videos from the election reveal that the Presiding Officer shuffled the votes from one basket to another only with a view to create a confusion during which he completely compromised the election process by forgery and tampering.
It also argued in the petition that the Presiding Officer’s actions are nothing but murder of democracy and democratic system for elections. It further accused the officers responsible for holding the elections to be hand in glove with the BJP.
Furthermore, it alleged that the Presiding Officer against all the rules and regulations announced the result that eight votes had been declared invalid but did not utter a single word for the invalidity of the votes and the party to whom these invalid votes were elected.