Exercising its power under Article 142 of the Constitution to do ‘complete justice’, the Supreme Court on Tuesday, February 20, overturned the result of the January 30 Chandigarh mayoral poll — which had witnessed BJP nominee Manoj Sonkar being declared the winner under controversial circumstances — and named AAP-Congress candidate Kuldeep Kumar as the mayor. Ruling that the result declared by returning officer (RO) Anil Masih, a nominated councillor of the BJP, was contrary to law, the court ordered his prosecution for making the ‘false’ statement before the Bench that he had invalidated eight ballot papers because they had been ‘defaced’. With these eight AAP-Congress votes not being counted at that time, the poll outcome had gone the BJP’s way, prompting the alliance to accuse the RO of ballot-tampering.

The Bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud asserted that in such a case, the top court was duty-bound to ensure that the process of electoral democracy was not allowed to be thwarted by subterfuge. The court’s commendable intervention has undone a grave wrong. The development is a major embarrassment for the BJP, whose attempt to engineer a victory has been scuttled. The INDIA bloc, beset by differences among its constituents, finally has something to cheer about. The AAP-Congress candidate’s victory has underscored the dire need for the Opposition to get its act together in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections.

The verdict is a stark reminder to all stakeholders — political parties, the electorate and the poll authorities at all levels — that the sanctity and fairness of the electoral exercise must always be ensured. Efforts to subvert the mandate are a blot on our democracy and should not be tolerated. Hopefully, the Chandigarh case will serve as a deterrent against the use of unfair means in elections.
(Tribune, India)