The Supreme Court's scathing remarks on the controversial Chandigarh mayor election should serve as a wake-up call for all political parties.
By terming the presiding officer's actions as "murder of democracy", the apex court has sent a strong message that electoral malpractices will not be tolerated, calling for the prosecution of the returning officer.
The intervention of the apex court following a petition by the Aam Admi Party (AAP) has come as a wake-up call for all those who have denigrated the electoral process as a mockery of democracy.
This is perhaps the strongest observation by the Supreme Court in recent times where it has called the presiding officer a “fugitive” running away after seeing a camera wrongly declaring eight votes as invalid.
It is now being felt that the removal of Punjab Governor, Banwari Lal Prohit, who is also the Administrator of Chandigarh has a direct correlation with the election of the Mayor.
Electing a Mayor was much hyped being the first poll between the INDI alliance, pitched against the Bharatiya Janata Party. For some strange reason, political parties made this election a prelude to the May 2024 general, even though there is no correlation between the party that will form the comment at the centre and the party that is successful in getting its mayor elected. Para
The observation of the Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said, “Is this the way he conducts the elections? This is a mockery of democracy. This is a murder of democracy. This man should be prosecuted," should be taken seriously by all those nurturing ambitions to won the forthcoming election by hook or crook.
The CJI’s sharp reaction erupted after seeing the video of the alleged controversial election, in which a BJP candidate was declared the winner after the votes of 8 candidates of the Congress-AAP alliance were declared invalid.
The CJI said that the Court is "appalled" to see the behaviour of the Presiding Officer. "Why is he looking at the camera and running like a fugitive?", CJI said after seeing the video.
The bench comprising CJI DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra was hearing a petition filed by AAP Councillor Kuldeep Kumar (the defeated Mayor candidate) challenging the refusal of the Punjab and Haryana High Court to stay the immediate election.
However, this issue is not limited to just Chandigarh or one isolated incident.
It points to a deeper malaise that seems to have afflicted our democratic process. successive instances of EVM tampering, voter deletion, booth capturing and now alleged ballot rigging reveal the brazenness with which parties try to manipulate results.
One wonders what was the pressure on Presiding Officer Anil Masih overseeing the Chandigarh Mayor elections who evidently 'defaced' the ballot papers. CJI Chandrachud expressed outrage at the video evidence, calling it a "mockery" and "murder" of democracy. "It is obvious that he (Presiding Officer) has defaced the ballot papers. He needs to be prosecuted. Why is he looking at the camera? Mr. Solicitor, this is a mockery of democracy and murdering democracy. We are appalled," the CJI said.
For now, the Apex Court has directed the Municipal corporation to handover of all ballot papers and related videography from the Chandigarh mayor elections to the registrar of Punjab and Haryana High Court. But there is more to come as the matter progresses in the Apex court.
But as far as the BJP is concerned, the damage is already done. Even if it wins future elections fairly, opposition parties are bound to point a finger of suspicion. This is one of the worst things that could happen in a democracy.
The observations of the bench comprising of the CJI, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra, who heard the petition by AAP Councillor Kuldeep Kumar are bound to be used by the opposition parties to hit out at the BJP, which the party will find hard to defend.
While the controversy over the EVMs is yet to die, for a petty gain, the BJP has again brought attention to the electoral process that will certainly hurt its credibility.
The Chandigarh fiasco has irreparably damaged the BJP's image as a party that values transparency and fairness in elections.
No matter how many future polls it may win cleanly, this stigma will stick. The party must do some serious soul-searching on why its local leaders felt the need to 'fix' a mayoral election through unethical means.
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