'Guilty of serious misdemeanour': SC Orders Criminal Prosecution Against Anil Masih

Chandigarh: Returning officer of the mayoral polls Anil Masih on Tuesday faced the wrath of the Supreme Court which ordered his criminal prosecution for allegedly giving false statement before it and his "misdemeanour" during the counting of votes.

The apex court, which declared defeated AAP-Congress alliance candidate Kuldeep Kumar as the new mayor of the union territory by setting aside the January 30 poll result, said Masih had put marks on eight ballot papers to create a ground for treating them as invalidly cast. "That apart, it is evident that the presiding officer (Masih) is guilty of serious misdemeanour in doing what he did in his role and capacity as a presiding officer," a bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud said.

The bench, also comprising Justice J B Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra, directed the registrar (judicial) of the apex court to issue a notice to Masih to show cause as to why proceedings should not be initiated against him under section 340 of the Code of Criminal Procedure for allegedly making false statement before the court.

It said he can file his response to the notice and the matter would be taken up after three weeks.

In its verdict, the Supreme Court bench said Masih's conduct as the presiding officer has to be deprecated at two levels. "Firstly, by his conduct he has unlawfully altered the course of the mayoral election... Secondly, in making a solemn statement before this court on February 19, the presiding officer expressed falsehood for which he must be held accountable," the bench said.

It said as a returning officer, Masih could not have been unmindful of the consequences of making such a statement before the court. The bench noted that before recording Masih's statement during the hearing on Monday, the court had placed him on notice about the serious consequences if he was found to have made an incorrect statement.

The BJP had won the Chandigarh mayoral polls on January 30 defeating the comfortably placed AAP-Congress alliance candidate after the returning officer declared as invalid eight votes of the coalition partners, drawing accusations of tampering with ballots.

Manoj Sonkar of the BJP defeated Kuldeep Kumar after polling 16 votes against his rival's 12 to bag the mayor's post. Sonkar, however, resigned subsequently, while three AAP councillors defected to the BJP. In its verdict, the bench observed that Masih had made a deliberate effort to deface eight ballots which were cast in favour of Kumar to secure a result in which Sonkar would be declared as an elected candidate.

"During the course of these proceedings, for the above reasons, we have come to the conclusion that the result which was declared by the presiding officer is clearly contrary to law and will have to be set aside. We order accordingly," it said. The bench observed that votes in the eight ballot papers, which were invalidated by Masih, were duly cast in favour of Kumar.

It said that as the returning officer, Masih had clearly acted beyond the term of his remit under the statutory regulations.

"We accordingly order and direct that the result of the election as declared by the presiding officer stands quashed and set aside. The petitioner (Kumar) is declared to be the validly elected candidate for election as mayor of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation," the bench said.

It referred to Masih's statement made before the court on Monday in which he had stated that besides signing the ballot papers, he had put 'X' mark at eight ballot papers during the course of counting of votes to identify them as defaced. The bench, which perused the ballot papers during the hearing and also saw the video recording of counting process, said none of these ballot papers were defaced as claimed by Masih.

Masih, a nominated municipal councillor, is a member of the BJP's minority wing and has been associated with the party since 2015 and has been seen attending party events. He was nominated as a councillor in the Chandigarh civic body in October 2022. Masih, who acted as the returning officer on January 30 mayoral polls, studied at a government school in the union territory and did his graduation from the DAV college there. 

(Disclaimer: This is a wire copy; except for the headline, Republic has not changed anything.)