Returning officer Anil Masih tenders unconditional apology in SC
Masih said he would withdraw the earlier affidavit which stated that he was reeling under depression and anxiety and wherein he denied allegations of tampering with ballots.
NEW DELHI: Anil Masih, the former returning officer in the Chandigarh mayoral polls tendered an unconditional apology to the Supreme Court , on Friday in connection with his alleged role in defacing ballot papers.
“We have tendered an unconditional apology in the matter. He (Masih) will withdraw the first affidavit and surrender to the magnanimity of this court. This is an unconditional apology,” Mukul Rohatgi, senior lawyer and former Attorney General (AG) of India, appearing for Masih, told the three-judge bench of the top court led by CJI Dr D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.
Masih came under the Supreme Court scanner for allegedly defacing 8 ballots in the Chandigarh mayoral polls, as it slammed him for his misconsuct.
After going through the unconditional apology of Masih, the top court noted it into the record and fixed the matter for further hearing to second week of July.
On February 20, the Supreme Court had in its order quashed the election result declared by Masih and ordered the AAP Candidate, Kuldeep Kumar, to be the winner of the Chandigarh mayoral polls.
The Supreme Court, while issuing show cause notice to Masih, had observed that he had deliberately defaced ballots voted in favour of Aam Aadmi Party’s Kuldeep Kumar.
While allowing the appeal of Kumar, the CJI said, it is evident that the Presiding Officer has made a deliberate attempt to deface 8 ballots which were cast in favour of the petitioner so that the 8th respondent (Manoj Sonkar of BJP) will be declared as the elected candidate.
The SC also in its order slammed Masih for his miscoduct in the case, and noted democracy was thwarted at the grassroots, that too, by misusing the office of the Returning Officer to change the course of the mayoral election results.
The apex court in its order had said that the conduct of Masih, has to be deprecated.
The councillor of the defeated AAP, Kumar had knocked the doors of the Supreme Court on February 01, challenging the Punjab and Haryana High Court order refusing to grant any interim relief to the party seeking fresh mayoral polls in Chandigarh.
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