Ex-Chandigarh Mayoral Poll Officer Anil Masih Offers Unconditional Apology Before Supreme Court

The former presiding officer of the Chandigarh mayoral polls, Anil Masih, who faced criticism for tampering with ballot papers, tendered an unconditional apology before the Supreme Court on Friday. Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing Masih, appeared before a bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, expressing regret to the Court.

“We have rendered an unconditional apology. I had a long chat with him. He will withdraw the first affidavit and surrender to the magnanimity of this court. This is an unconditional apology,” Rohatgi told the bench, as quoted by Bar and Bench.

The matter is scheduled to be taken up next in the second week of July, Bar and Bench’s report stated.

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 Supreme Court Overturned Chandigarh Mayor Poll Results

In February, the Supreme Court invalidated Masih’s decision to declare the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) candidate as the winner of the Chandigarh Mayor polls after a video surfaced showing Masih defacing ballot papers. The Court addressed a petition filed by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Councillor Kuldeep Kumar, who alleged fraud in the decision of Returning Officer (RO) Masih to declare BJP’s Manoj Sonkar (who has since resigned) as the Chandigarh Mayor.

Masih had invalidated eight votes for the AAP candidate, but CCTV footage captured him altering the eight ballot papers.

The Supreme Court, while overturning Masih’s decision, declared Kumar as the winner of the mayoral polls. The bench rebuffed Masih’s explanation for invalidating the eight votes, terming his conduct as unlawful and condemning his false statements before the Court.

Consequently, the Court issued a show-cause notice to Masih, and the matter is set to be heard in detail in July.

BJP’s Manoj Sonkar was declared the winner of the Mayor elections on January 30 with 16 votes, surpassing the 12 votes received by the Congress-AAP candidate, Kuldeep Kumar, despite the AAP-Congress alliance having a majority in the house with 20 members. Out of 36 votes cast, 8 were rejected as invalid during the counting process.

AAP councillor Kuldeep Kumar first contested the Mayor poll results in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Upon the High Court’s refusal to halt the election results, Kumar approached the Supreme Court.

During the pendency of the case in the top court, Sonkar resigned from the post of Mayor, and three AAP Councillors switched to the BJP, a development that the Supreme Court disapproved of, terming it “distressing.”

Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi represented Kuldeep Kumar before the apex court.