SC declares AAP-Cong candidate winner of Chandigarh mayoral poll

NT Bureau, Agencies

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday declared defeated AAP-Congress alliance candidate Kuldeep Kumar the mayor of Chandigarh after overturning the result of the controversial poll where the BJP nominee had emerged an unlikely winner, in an unprecedented intervention to set right a brazen attempt by the returning officer to rig the election.

It ordered prosecution of returning officer Anil Masih, a BJP leader, for "serious misdemeanour" for making an allegedly false statement before the court that he had invalidated eight ballots because they had been defaced.

Exercising its plenary power under Article 142 of the Constitution to do complete justice, the apex court said the result declared by the returning officer, a nominated councillor, was clearly contrary to law.

A bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud said in such a case, the top court was duty bound, particularly in the context of its jurisdiction under Article 142 of the Constitution, to ensure that the process of electoral democracy is not allowed to be thwarted by subterfuge.

The bench, also comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, said the court must step in where exceptional situations develop to ensure that the basic mandate of electoral democracy is preserved.