<h5>What happened during the Chandigarh mayoral poll?</h5><p>In the recently held Chandigarh mayoral elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Manoj Sonkar defeated the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Kuldeep Kumar by four votes. But the election’s presiding officer had declared eight votes of Congress and AAP councillors invalid without cause. This ensured the BJP candidate’s win over AAP’s Kuldeep Kumar.</p><p>Sonkar received 16 votes to Kuldeep Kumar's 12, with eight ruled invalid. The AAP and the Congress then accused Anil Masih, the presiding officer, of manipulating ballots during the vote-counting process. Both parties also accused the BJP of cheating.</p><p>A video circulated on social media showed Masih writing on the ballot papers of several AAP councillors before entering them into the record. This video drew severe criticism from the AAP and Congress. The AAP claims that by writing on the papers, the presiding officer intentionally invalidated their votes and awarded the BJP victory.</p><p>The matter has reached the Supreme Court (SC) of India, and it has criticised what occurred during the election.</p><div class="raw-html-embed"><figure> <video width="100%" controls=""> <source src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/newsahoot.appspot.com/o/supreme-court-criticises-chandigarh-mayoral-polls%2FChandigarh.mp4?alt=media&amp;token=6a363904-daff-4de2-b5cd-1b54ac3fbdf9" type="video/mp4"> </video> <figcaption>A video of the presiding officer. Video Rishu Raj Singh.</figcaption> </figure></div><h5>What has the Supreme Court said?</h5><p>The SC has criticised the presiding officer’s conduct and said whatever happened during the election was a “mockery of democracy." The SC also said they won’t allow democracy to be destroyed like this. These remarks were made by a three-judge bench headed by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud.</p><p>They were hearing a petition by Kuldeep Kumar regarding the mayoral elections. After watching a video of the election events, the CJI remarked on what Anil Masih was doing. He said the presiding officer spoiled the ballot and should be punished.</p><p>The matter will be heard again on 19th February 2024. The presiding officer has been asked to be present before the court on that day to explain his actions. Meanwhile, the SC has ordered that all election-related ballot papers and videos be given to the Punjab and Haryana High Court registrar.</p><p>The SC also said that a Chandigarh Municipal Corporation meeting that was to be held on 7th February be postponed till further instructions.</p><h5>What did we learn from this article?</h5><p>This event shows the importance of holding fair elections where the election officials must be fair and avoid favouritism. Attempting to cheat in elections can lead to people losing trust in the process, which can be harmful to a country’s democracy.</p><p>The SC’s involvement in the case also shows that India’s top court is there to ensure elections are held in a fair manner. It is also critical to ensure that everything about elections is clear and that those who do wrong are punished.</p>

The AAP and Congress have claimed that the presiding officer manipulated votes during the election, resulting in a BJP win.

Supreme Court Criticises Chandigarh Mayoral Polls

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Supreme Court Criticises Chandigarh Mayoral Polls

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