The former judge of Punjab and Haryana High Court Justice (retd) Jaishree Thakur on Monday has been appointed as an independent observer for the Chandigarh mayoral election by the Supreme Court of India.
The mayoral polls are scheduled in the Union Territory for January 30. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh referred to the "mutually agreeable stand" taken by the sides and said, "We deem it appropriate to appoint Justice Jaishree Thakur, former Judge of Punjab & Haryana High Court as the independent observer."
The top court directed the election proceedings to be conducted in the observer's physical presence and ordered it should be duly videographed. The bench directed the returning officer of the mayoral election to contact the independent observer and coordinate with the former judge well before the scheduled election date.
"The observer shall be paid an honorarium of ₹1 lakh which shall be paid by the union territory administration of Chandigarh within one week. All the necessary security arrangements shall also be made," it ordered.
Punjab advocate general Gurminder Singh, appearing for incumbent mayor Kuldeep Kumar, suggested a retired high court judge could be appointed as the independent observer.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Chandigarh administration, did not object to the appointment of an independent observer but said it should not become a precedent where all municipal corporations start moving the apex court.
The bench said it was only concerned with fairness and transparency of the process while it recorded the submissions of both sides.
"We may clarify in this regard that this court did not doubt at all on the objectivity, independence, or fairness of the authorities. However, the proposal to appoint an independent observer was mooted having regard to the apprehension expressed by the petitioner," it said.
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The bench said it issued notice on the plea for the "limited purpose" of appointing an independent observer to ensure the election was conducted in a free and fair manner on the scheduled date.
Chandigarh Mayor Kuldeep Kumar from AAP filed a plea seeking "show of hands" instead of "secret ballot" to ensure fairness in the polling process.
The bench however rejected the request and said it would not interfere with the high court's view on this issue.
On January 24, the top court mulled appointing an observer to ensure "free and fair" mayoral elections while indicating that a retired high court judge can be appointed to ensure fairness.
On February 20, last year, the top court declared defeated AAP-Congress alliance candidate Kuldeep Kumar the UT's mayor overturning the result of the contentious poll where the BJP nominee emerged an unlikely winner.
It ordered prosecution of former returning officer Anil Masih, a BJP member, for "serious misdemeanour" and an alleged false statement before the court that he had invalidated eight ballots due to defacement.
Exercising its powers under Article 142 of the Constitution, the apex court had said the result declared by the returning officer, a nominated councillor, was clearly contrary to the law.
The top court had said in each of the eight ballot papers, which were invalidated by Masih, the votes were duly cast in Kumar's favour.
BJP's Manoj Sonkar had won the Chandigarh mayoral polls on January 30, last year, defeating the comfortably placed AAP-Congress alliance candidate, prompting accusations of tampering with the ballots.
Sonkar got 16 votes against Kumar who secured 12.
He resigned subsequently whereas three AAP councillors defected to the BJP. In its verdict, the apex court noted that as per the result declared on January 30, Kumar got 12 votes and his tally went up to 20 after adding the eight invalidated votes.
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