‘BJP’s dictatorship’: AAP issues fresh CCTV clip of alleged ‘ballot paper tampering’ after Supreme Court rap
Hours after the Supreme Court called the cancellation of votes during the Chandigarh mayoral elections a mockery of democracy, the Aam Aadmi Party on Monday released a new purported video of the presiding officer allegedly tampering with the ballot papers before declaring them invalid. The party said the video is the living proof of BJP’s dictatorship.
“Now accept it, BJP. What can be a greater proof than this? See how the Presiding Officer of BJP openly destroyed the flag of democracy by cancelling the votes himself. This is living proof of BJP’s dictatorship.”
The BJP’s candidate won the Chandigarh mayoral elections despite the Congress-AAP alliance having more numbers in the Chandigarh municipal council, after the presiding officer, Anil Masih, declared 8 votes invalid.
The AAP had moved the Supreme Court against the presiding officer’s move.
Supreme Court slams presiding officer
On Monday, the court observed that the returning officer had defaced the ballot papers. Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said it was a mockery of democracy.
“Is this the way he conducts the elections? This is a mockery of democracy. This is a murder of democracy. We are appalled. This man should be prosecuted. Is this the behaviour of the Returning Officer?” Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said.
The Supreme Court later asked the authorities to preserve the entire record of the election process including ballot papers, videography and other material through the Registrar General of Punjab and Haryana High Court.
Hearing the plea by the AAP candidate Kuldeep Dhalor who lost to his BJP rival Manoj Sonkar on January 30, the court said the presiding officer must be prosecuted. The court added that it was appalled by his conduct.
“The only stabilising thing in a democracy is the purity of our election process. And what is happening here? We will not allow democracy to be murdered,” said CJI Chandrachud, as the bench issued a notice directing the returning officer Anil Masih to be personally present in court on February 19.
The Congress-AAP alliance had 20 votes. However, after Masih declared eight votes invalid, Dhalor’s effective vote count became 12 against Sonkar’s 16.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann on February 2 staged a protest against the BJP over the election.
“This election in Chandigarh shows that they are the pot of sin. How did it get filled? When the pot of sin gets filled too much, then nature moves its broom, and God moves its broom and corrects things. The Chandigarh election was a small one. The world’s biggest party was caught stealing votes in the Chandigarh elections; it was caught red-handed,” Kejriwal had said.