Anil Masih, the reuturning officer accused of “defacing the ballot papers” in Chandigarh Mayor elections filed an affidavit in Supreme Court tendering an “unconditional apology.”
He defaced 8 ballot papers of AAP Councillors rendering their vote invalid. This led to BJP candidate Manoj Kumar Sankar bagging the seat of mayor in Chandigarh. Aam Aadmi party contested this verdict in Supreme Court and bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud quashed the decision declaring AAP’s Kuldeep Kumar as Chandigarh’s mayor.
On Friday, Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi appeared in court on behalf of Masih before a three judge bench headed by CJI DY Chandrachud and also comprising Justice Manoj Misra and Justice JB Pardiwala. He informed the court that the returning officer had submitted an affidavit tendering an “unconditional apology”. The bench said that it will hear the matter in second week of July.
Observing that Masih was guily of serious misconduct, the bench issued him notice to intitiate proceedings under Section 340 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).
