Amid Vote Tampering Allegations, New Video Shows Chandigarh Returning Officer Signing Ballots

As the Supreme Court came down heavily on the Returning Officer over the alleged defacing of ballot papers in the Chandigarh mayoral polls, a video of the said officer Anil Masih is out on the internet where he is seen signing the ballots.

In the video, the officer, who is aware of the camera around him, is seen signing the ballot paper. He is looking at the camera even as he is busy with the process of signing.

Earlier in the day, after watching the video, the Supreme Court on Monday said this is a mockery of democracy and ordered that the ballots and the video of the electoral proceedings be preserved.

CJI said that the Presiding Officer was seen making alterations in the ballot paper. "He looks at the camera, and defaces the ballot obviously. Where there is a cross at the bottom (of the ballot paper), he puts it into the tray. The moment there is a cross at the top, the man defaces the ballot and looks at the camera. Tell him that the Supreme Court is watching him. We will not allow democracy to be murdered like this. The great stabilising force in the country is the purity of the election process," Live Law quoted the CJI as saying.

The bench ordered that the ballot papers and the video recordings of the proceedings be preserved.

One of the AAP councillors had moved the top 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.

On January 30, the BJP swept the Chandigarh mayoral polls against the Congress-AAP alliance.

BJP's Manoj Sonkar was declared winner against the AAP's Kuldeep Kumar for the mayor's post. While the former secured 16 votes, the latter got 12. However, the officer had declared eight votes invalid.