New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday set aside the Chandigarh mayoral poll results. The court declared AAP-Congress combine candidate Kuldeep Kumar the winner. The Bench ordered initiation of criminal proceedings against returning officer Anil Masih under Section 340 of the Criminal Procedure Code for ballot-tampering.
BJP candidate Manoj Sonkar had bagged 16 votes against the 12 received by Kuldeep Kumar after eight votes were rejected in the January 30 polls to elect the Mayor of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation.
However, Sonkar had resigned on Sunday. The top court declared that the eight votes declared invalid were validly cast in favour of Kumar and he had in fact got 20 votes against Sonkar's 16. The Bench used its plenary powers to declare Kumar the winner. The Bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud deprecated Masih for unlawfully changing the results. The top court passed the order after scrutinising the ballot papers and watching the video recordings played before it.