Kejriwal says Supreme Court ‘saved democracy’

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday overturned the result of the Chandigarh mayoral poll in which the BJP candidate had emerged an unlikely winner, and declared defeated AAP-Congress alliance candidate Kuldeep Kumar as the new city mayor.
It also ordered prosecution of the returning officer for the poll, Anil Masih, a BJP leader, for his “misdemeanour”, after finding serious faults in the conduct of the January 30 election.
The apex court made it clear that it was not quashing the entire electoral exercise and restricting itself to dealing with the wrong-doings in the counting process which led to invalidation of eight votes cast in Kumar’s favour.
A bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud said it was evident that Masih made deliberate attempt to deface eight ballot papers.
The BJP had won the mayoral poll defeating the comfortably placed AAP-Congress alliance candidate after the returning officer declared as invalid eight votes of the coalition partners, drawing accusations of tampering with ballots.
Manoj Sonkar of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had defeated Kuldeep Kumar after polling 16 votes against his rival’s 12 to bag the mayor’s post. Sonkar, however, resigned subsequently, while three AAP councillors defected to the BJP.
Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal thanked Supreme Court for saving the democracy but ruling in favour of their candidate in the Chandigarh mayoral elections case.
A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra quashed Returning Officer Anil Masih’s decision of declaring eight votes invalid and announce BJP candidate Manoj Kumar Sonkar as Chandigarh Mayor on January 30.
The court had physically checked the eight ballots and found they were defaced by Masih to help BJP candidate secure victory despite not having enough numbers.
“Many thanks to the Supreme Court. The way Dictatorship is running in the country, democracy and institutions are being crushed. The decision of the Supreme Court is very important to save democracy…” the Delhi CM said after the top court verdict.
“Chandigarh Mayor Elections proved that they do not win elections, they steal elections. He stole 25% votes in Chandigarh Mayor election. If 90 crore people vote in the Lok Sabha elections, then imagine what a big mess they would be making. They say with confidence that 370 seats are coming, they do not need people’s votes, then they have done something wrong,” Kejriwal further stated.
He also pointed out the alleged poaching attempts and misuse of the Enforcement Directorate by the BJP to topple elected governments.
“First BJP wins by rigging the elections and if they lose the elections then they start breaking the councilors and MLAs. They start throwing wads of notes, put ED behind them and topple the government,” he said.
The Delhi CM termed Chandigarh mayoral elections a first huge victory of the Opposition’s INDIA alliance.
“This is the first and huge victory of INDIA Alliance. Those who say that BJP cannot be defeated, this is a signal to them that BJP can be defeated with unity and strategy,” Kejriwal further added.
PTI/Agencies

Agencies