Chandigarh mayoral polls: SC says eight 'defaced' ballots to be treated as valid, orders fresh counting

Supreme Court on Monday heard the plea challenging the Chandigarh Mayor elections. 

Supreme Court takes into note that all invalidated eight ballots have votes cast in favour of the AAP Mayor Candidate Kuldeep Kumar.

CJI shows the ballots to the lawyers and observes that all eight have received the stamp for Kuldeep Kumar, AAP’s councillor, and the votes are cast for him. What the Returning Officer Anil Masih does is, he puts a single line, says CJI.

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CJI tells Returning Officer Anil Masih that yesterday he told the Supreme Court that he put the lines because the ballot papers were defaced. 

Supreme Court remarks that Anil Masih, returning officer in Chandigarh Mayor election, has to be prosecuted as he was interfering with the election process. 

Meanwhile, BJP's Manoj Sonkar resigned ahead of the hearing on the AAP-Congress candidate's defeat due to invalid votes. BJP claimed the defection of three AAP councillors, securing a majority. 

In an earlier hearing, the Supreme Court had postponed the municipal corporation's first sitting amid accusations of democracy manipulation.