Brazen malpractice: SC on presiding officer’s role in Chandigarh mayor poll case

New Delhi: The Supreme Court will decide on March 15 the future proceedings to be initiated against presiding officer Anil Masih for altering the course of the Chandigarh mayoral polls and for stating “patent falsehood” before the Supreme Court on defacing 8 ballots, an action that led to the defeat of the Aam Aadmi Party candidate Kuldeep Kumar, who was ultimately declared Mayor by the top court on February 20. ‘This is not an ordinary case of alleged malpractice by candidates in an election, but electoral misconduct by the presiding officer himself.’ The bench headed by Chief Justice of india Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, which passed the order, a copy of which was uploaded on Thursday, said, “List the Civil Appeal on 15 March 2024 for considering the response of the seventh respondent to the notice which has been directed to be issued to him.” The Court had directed the Registrar to issue a show cause notice to Masih, the presiding officer of the January 30 mayoral polls of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, seeking his response as to why steps should not be initiated against him under Section 340 of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973. In a subtle message to him, the Court said, “To maintain the purity of the electoral process, the ‘little cross’ on the ‘little bit of paper’ must be made only by the metaphorical ‘little man’ walking into the ‘little booth’ and no one else.” Kumar’s legal team had a battery of lawyers led by senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Punjab advocate general Gurminder Singh, additional advocate general Shadan Farasat and advocate Talha Abdul Rahman while Masih was represented by senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi. Local governments, such as municipal corporations, engage with issues that affect citizens’ daily lives and act as a primary point of contact with representative democracy.” As this process was sought to be vitiated by Masih, the Court said, “The process of citizens electing councillors, who in turn, elect the Mayor, serves as a channel for ordinary citizens to ventilate their grievances through their representatives – both directly and indirectly elected.