Expressing deep concern over the “horse trading” and slamming the Returning Officer Anil Masih, who had conducted the controversial and questionable Chandigarh Mayor’s election, the Supreme Court on Monday directed that the ballot papers and video recording of the election held on January 30, that have been taken into custody by the Registrar General of Punjab and Haryana High Court in pursuant of its order, be produced before it on February 20, 2024, at 2pm.

Ordering the production of the ballot papers and the video recording of the conduct of the election in which eight ballot papers of the Congress-Aam Aadmi Party councillors were invalidated, a bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra further directed that the necessary security arrangements shall be made to ensure the safe transit and proper preservation and custody of ballet papers along with judicial officers.

Expressing concern over the “horse trading”, the bench said, “We are deeply concerned about the horse-trading which is taking place….” The bench expressed concern over the “defacing ballot papers”.

The strong observations from the top court came in the course of the hearing of Aam Aadmi Party’s councillor Kuldeep Kumar’s plea who has questioned the way BJP’s Mayor’s candidate Manoj Sonkar’s victory was allegedly engineered. Kuldeep Kumar had lost the Mayor’s election to BJP candidate Manoj Sonkar on January 30.

Sonkar resigned as Mayor of Chandigarh on February 18, ahead of the hearing today in the top court.

The bench today asked Masih as to why he had marked X (cross) on the ballot papers. Conveying the seriousness of the matter, Chief Justice Chandrachud told Masih “This is a very serious matter. All that you say… if there is any falsehood you will be prosecuted… Why were you looking into the camera and putting marks in the ballot papers?”

The Returning Officer Masih who was present in the court in pursuance to February 5 order, replied that he was just marking the ballot papers that were defaced, and that there were so many cameras that he was just looking at them. He said that he had made marks on eight ballot papers, only to set them apart.

At this bench said: “That means you marked it. He has to be prosecuted. In an electoral democracy, this cannot be allowed.”

On the last date of hearing on February 5, the aghast over the way the returning officer conducted the election by defacing the ballot paper to ensure the defeat of the Aam Aadmi Party-Congress combine candidate Kuldeep Kumar, the Supreme Court had said that it was “appalled” by the conduct the returning officer who made a “mockery” of democracy and “murdered” it and needs to be “prosecuted.”

BJP’s Sonkar bagged 16 votes against the 12 votes received by Kuldeep Kumar despite having 20 councillors. The action of rejecting eight votes of AAP-Congress alliance as invalid had sparked allegations of vote tampering by the Returning Officer.

The AAP councillor has approached the Supreme Court challenging a Punjab and Haryana High Court order that refused to grant any interim relief to the party seeking fresh mayoral polls in Chandigarh.