The Supreme Court on Tuesday, 20 February, overturned the Bharatiya Janata Party's victory in the Chandigarh mayoral poll, announcing Kuldeep Kumar of the Aam Aadmi Party-Congress alliance as the 'validly elected' candidate as the new city mayor.
Taking to X, Delhi Chief Minister and National Convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party, Arvind Kejriwal, tweeted, "Thank you, SC, for saving democracy in these difficult times."
"We saw how, in the Chandigarh elections, it was clear that 20 votes were for the INDIA alliance and 16 votes for the BJP. 8 out of 20 votes of the INDIA Alliance were declared invalid wrongfully and lost the elections," said CM Kejriwal while addressing a conference after the Supreme Court's verdict.
"The Supreme Court called all the ballot papers to see and gave a verdict today. This happened for the first time in the history of India. We thank the Supreme Court for its decision in tough times in our country. SC's decision is very important for democracy and to protect democracy," added Kejriwal.
"This is a very big and important win for the INDIA alliance," said Kejriwal.
"There were a total of 36 votes in this election between the BJP, Akali Dal, and AAP, of which 35 were councillors and 1 was a member of parliament. In the counting, the BJP stole 25% of the votes. In just a few days, the country's biggest Lok Sabha election is going to be held. If these people can steal 25% of the votes out of 36, then how many votes out of 90 crore votes will be stolen?" added Kejriwal.
"The Supreme Court's order has exposed the BJP and shown it the mirror. The party's leaders should apologise to the country if they have any shame left," said AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj.
"It is a matter of grave concern that if the BJP and its central government can do such open stealing and dishonesty in such a small poll, what would they do in other elections where there are no microphones and CCTV cameras," added Bharadwaj.
The apex court bench, headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, ruled that eight invalid votes cast for AAP candidate Kumar are valid and directed the issuance of a show cause notice to returning officer Anil Masih, who defaced the votes, as reported by The Indian Express.
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