CJI: we will direct that electoral votes be recounted and let these 8 votes be counted also and not be considered as defaced.

Rohatgi: I have no desire to be the RO... but let another officer check

Singhvi: nobody should have the privilege to eat the fruits of a poisonous tree.. he is defending the dot now.

Rohatgi: this is not a petition against the Returning officer

AG: They ask voters to fold the slips laterally.. the RO explained the procedure himself.. it is on video.. he is very well aware why dot is there and he is misleading his senior counsel. he asked for it to be folded

CJI: Let all of them see the video... a little entertainment is good for everybody !

Video being played in the court room.

CJI says that the petitioners have given the relevant timeline of the video.

"Otherwise all of us will be here till 5.45,"
CJI laughs.

The video portion where voters are taking objection to the markings of the Presiding Officer is being played now.

Lawyers and judges are seen to be smiling after seeing the video portions.

The portion of the video where Anil Masih is declaring the results is being played now.

Rohatgi : He was declaring the votes ....they have snatched away the ballots...

Justice Pardiwala : Yesterday, he admitted that he ticked the ballots. We have seen the video, that after the declaration of results, the commotion happened.

Justice Pardiwala : Why did he tick the ballots?

Rohatgi : His explanation is that he assessed that certain ballots were invalid. He is not a thief. It was his assessment.

Singhvi : An imaginary assessment!

Bench now seeks the response of Sr Adv Maninder Singh, the winner of the Mayor election (who later resigned).

Maninder Singh says as per the statute, if there is a vacancy in the post of Mayor, then there has to be a fresh election.

Maninder Singh : Even if your lordships come to the conclusion that the election has to be set aside, as per statutory mechanism a fresh election has to be done. That will be fair to us too.

Singhvi : The provision will apply only if there is a valid election.

Singhvi : They want fresh election because they want the benefit of the time during which they possibly got people to defect. On a lighter vein, horse-trading is a term insulting horses.

Gurminder Singh : At any stage of election, your lordships can go back if their conduct warrants so..

Maninder Singh : The prayer is to set aside the election and for a fresh election, not to declare the petitioner as the winner.

AAP will now target Maninder !!!

Bench starts dictating the order : Section 38 of the Punjab Municipal Corporation Act 1976 is extended to the UT of Chandigarh. It provides that the Corporation on its first meeting shall elect its Chairperson, known as the Mayor of the Corporation. Section 60(a) and Regulation 6(1) of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation (Procedure and Conduct of Business) Regulation 1996 provide that the meeting of the election of the Mayor shall be convened by the Divisional Commissioner, who is the prescribed authority, who shall nominate a councillor, who is not a candidate for the election, to preside over the meeting.

Bench : Sri Vinay Pratap Singh IAS, Dy Commissioner of UT Chandigarh, acting in his capacity as the Prescribed Authority, directed the convening of the meeting of the councillors in terms of Section 38 at 11 AM, Jan 18, 2024. Sri Anil Masih, one of the councillors who was not standing for the election, was nominated as the Presiding Authority.

The agenda of the meeting was to conduct the election of Mayor, Sr Dy Mayor and Dy Mayor. The present case relates to the election to the post of Mayor.

A writ petition under Article 226 was instituted by the petitioner in the HC of P&H seeking a direction to the Dy Commissioner to ensure that free and fair election take place to the post of Mayor, Sr Dy Mayor, Dy Mayor of the Corporation and the appointment of a Commissioner under the auspices of the Court to supervise the election process.

During the course of the hearing of the petition, the petitioner submitted that he would be content if a direction was issued to the official respondents to acknowledge the acceptance of withdrawal of the candidature of certain persons for the three electoral posts and with a direction that persons nominated by the contested candidates may be permitted to observe the proceedings.

The petiitoner also sought a direction for video recording of the election process.

In response to the above request, the respondents representing the authorities, inter alia, stated that the entire voting process will be video recorded. It was stated that Chandigarh police will ensure free and fair elections take place. In view of this position, the petition was disposed of by HC.

A fresh round of litigation then took place before the HC since the elections were not conducted on Jan 18, 2024. The election could not take place as the Presiding Officer had taken leave of absence on the ground of ill health.

The elections were rescheduled to take place on Feb 6, 2024. The order postponing the elections was also challenged before the High Court. On 23 Jan, the HC observed that the postponement of the election for 18 days was unreasonable. By judgment dated 24 Jan, the HC directed that there was no valid ground for the postponement of the elections. Consequently, by setting aside the order dated Jan 18, 2024, the HC directed that the elections to the post of Mayor, Sr Dy Mayor, Dy Mayor shall be conducted on 30 Jan 2024.


The program for the elections was notified on Jan 26, 2024. The election for the post of Mayor was conducted on Jan 30, 2024. Two candidates were in the fray for the post of Mayor.

The petitioner Kuldeep Kumar was candidate set up in an alliance between the AAP and INC. From the submissions before the Court, it appears that the alliance came into being after nominations were filed on Jan 16, after which certain candidates withdrew.


The second candidate, Manoj Kumar Sonkar, 8th respondent, was the candidate set up by the Bhartiya Janata Party. A total of 35 councillors were eligible to vote at the election of Mayor. Apart from which, the Member of Parliament from the UT was eligible to cast vote. Therefore, there were 36 eligible voters.

Bench : Election to the post of Mayor is governed by Chandigarh Municipal Corporation (Procedure and Conduct of Business) Regulations 1996. Regulation 6 provides for election of the Mayor, including the process of nomination, withdrawal of candidatures and the conduct of the election by secret ballot.

Clauses 9 to 13 of Regulation 6 have a material bearing on the subject matter of the present dispute. The results were announced by Anil Masih, the Presiding Officer, on Jan 30, 2024. The result sheet which tabulated the outcome is reproduced below..

The results sheet indicates that of the 36 votes which were polled, 8 were treated invalid. Of the 28 valid votes which remained, the petitioner holds 12 votes while the 8th Respondent holds 16 votes.

The Presiding Officer declared the results. This led to the institution of a writ petition in PH HC.

A division bench of the HC declined to stay the election and directed that the petition be posted after 3 weeks.

The proceedings before this Court were instituted at that stage.