Congress leaders accuse BJP of conspiracy to “murder democracy”, hail SC verdict on Chandigarh Mayor election
Congress leaders have accused the BJP of orchestrating a scheme to undermine democracy, celebrating the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Chandigarh Mayor election. They criticized the BJP for engaging in underhanded tactics and interfering with the electoral process. Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi of the Congress party strongly condemned the BJP following the Supreme Court’s decision to nullify the election outcome, declaring AAP’s Kuldeep Kumar as the rightful winner.
Rahul Gandhi remarked that the Returning Officer, Anil Masih, was merely a pawn in the BJP’s plot to subvert democracy, attributing the scheme to the leadership of Modi. The Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, overturned Masih’s decision to declare Manoj Kumar Sonkar of the BJP as the Chandigarh Mayor, citing deliberate tampering with ballots favoring Kuldeep Kumar.
The apex court physically examined the ballots and found no evidence of tampering, ordering Kuldeep Kumar to be reinstated as mayor with the addition of 8 votes that were initially invalidated by Masih.
Kharge emphasized the importance of uniting against the BJP’s assault on constitutional principles, asserting that the Supreme Court’s intervention thwarted the BJP’s attempts at electoral manipulation. He urged all Indians to resist this attack on democracy and warned of the pivotal role the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections will play in determining the future of Indian democracy.
Furthermore, the Supreme Court instructed the Registrar Judicial to initiate perjury proceedings against Anil Masih for falsely claiming that the ballots were defaced, rebuking Masih for unlawfully altering the outcome of the mayoral election.
