Supreme Court's Big Remark: What Happened In Chandigarh Mayor Poll?
NDTV
The Supreme Court has also ordered the Punjab and Haryana High Court to secure all ballot papers and records of the election by 5 pm, and fixed the next date of hearing as February 12.
The Supreme Court on Monday made strong observations on the controversy that engulfed last week's Chandigarh mayoral election, in which the BJP's Manoj Sonkar defeated the AAP's Kuldeep Kumar by four votes, after eight from the latter party were declared "invalid" without cause.
A video of Presiding Officer Anil Masih - a member of the BJP's Minority Cell - appearing to write on the ballot papers of some AAP councillors' before he entered them into the record - was widely shared on social media, drawing severe criticism from the Aam Aadmi Party and its allies.
By writing on the councillors' ballot papers, AAP had argued, Mr Masih deliberately invalidated their votes in an election the party was widely expected to win comfortably, and handed the BJP a victory.
