Supreme Court Terms 8 Rejected Votes As Valid, Announces AAP Candidate As New Chandigarh Mayor

After examining the videos and ballot papers, the Supreme Court of India on Tuesday tagged eight ballots as legal which were rejected by the returning officer during the Chandigarh Mayor Elections, and announced AAP's mayoral candidate Kuldeep Kumar as the winner.

During the hearing, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud directed the poll officials to recount the votes for mayoral elections, and include eight votes, in favour of the Aam Aadmi Party and Congress candidate.

After examining the video, the CJI said "The votes were cast for Kuldeep Kumar. What he (Returning Officer) does, he puts a single line. Just one line, as seen in the video."

A day ago, the apex court ordered preceding officer Anil Masih to produce ballot papers and asked him why he was looking at the camera. The court also asked the election body official what was the need to put cross marks on the ballots used in Chandigarh Mayor Elections.

The Supreme Court termed the incident as a "murder of democracy" and an open "horse-trading business". The court also asked Anil Masih why he should not be prosecuted.

On January 30, during the Chandigarh Mayor Elections, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Congress joined hands to defeat the BJP. However, after 8 votes were rejected the BJP miraculously emerged victorious.

Reacting to Supreme Court's today's judgment, Chandigarh Congress chief Harmohinder Singh Lucky says, "What happened in Supreme Coury is totally historic in the history of Chandigarh. Never before has this happened...Everybody knows what happened in the mayoral election...Today, justice has prevailed..."