The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to consider AAP councillor Kuldeep Kumar’s plea seeking fresh mayoral polls in Chandigarh over allegations of foul play.

Kumar had challenged the Punjab and Haryana High Court refusing to pass an interim order staying the result in which Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Manoj Sonkar was declared elected as mayor.

Advertisement

As senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for AAP councillor mentioned the, matter for an urgent hearing, a bench of Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra asked him, to send an email in this regard and it will look into it.

“We will list it… we will look at it,” CJI Chandrachud said as Singhvi submitted that the returning officer was caught on video smudging the ballots.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), has alleged that ballot papers were tampered with and sought fresh polls under the supervision of a retired judge of the court.

While refusing to stay the election result, the High Court had issued notices to the Chandigarh administration, the municipal corporation, presiding officer Anil Masih and newly-elected Mayor Manoj Sonkar, among others. The High Court posted the matter for hearing on February 26.

Besides the denial of the stay of the result, the AAP councillor Kuldip Kumar has pointed to the listing of his plea after three weeks. On February 26, 2024.

In the High Court Kuldip Kumar has sought directions for holding fresh polls in a free and fair manner, under the supervision of a retired judge to ensure “no malpractice”.

The AAP councillor has also sought an investigation by an independent agency into the “entire fraud” committed during the election process.

BJP’s Manoj Sonkar was elected as the Mayor on January 30 after he bagged 16 votes against the 12 votes received by the Congress-AAP candidate Kumar. Eight votes were rejected in the process as invalid.

The appeal in the top court said that the High Court erred in not granting any interim relief to the AAP candidate in the form of stay on outcome of elections for the post of Mayor or directing the preservation of electoral records.