Chandigarh Mayor and Aam Aadmi Party leader Kuldeep Kumar has filed a petition in the Supreme Court, in which he has demanded that voting in the Chandigarh Mayor election to be held on January 30 should be done through open hand and not through secret ballot.
A bench of Supreme Court judges Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh on Friday sought a reply from the Chandigarh administration whether an independent observer can be appointed to conduct the voting fairly and freely. The court has said that Kuldeep Kumar’s concern is that voters should get free and fair choices during the elections. The court has said that it will ensure this.
The court has said, issue a notice for the limited purpose of appointing a retired judge for the mayor election to be held on January 30, 2025. The election process will be under his supervision. The court has clarified that the election process will continue in the meantime. The court has also expressed its desire to appoint a retired judge to oversee the election. The court has fixed January 27, 2025 i.e. today’s date for the next hearing.
The petition filed by Kuldeep Kumar highlights the alleged irregularities in the last mayoral election and has requested that this year’s election should not be held through secret ballot. The petition also demands the appointment of a retired High Court judge to oversee the election process, so that transparency and fairness can be ensured.
Referring to the irregularities in the last election, the demand for fair elections is intensified this time
On behalf of AAP, Advocate Gurminder Singh appeared in the court on behalf of Kuldeep Kumar on Friday and told how Returning Officer Anil Masih had declared the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate the winner by selectively destroying the ballot papers. After this, Aam Aadmi Party candidate Kuldeep Kumar appealed against this decision in the Supreme Court, on which the court overturned the decision of the Returning Officer and declared Kuldeep Kumar the winner of the mayor election.
