SC says will ensure fair polls, seeks names for independent Observer

Asks UT admn, chief secy, MC chief to file response by Jan 27; clarifies poll process will continue on Jan 30 despite the notice

- Abraham Thomas

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday said it will ensure a "fair" election of the Chandigarh mayor, and proposed that an independent observer oversee the polls to be held on January 30 after incumbent mayor Kuldeep Kumar Dhalor, belonging to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), apprehended a repeat of last year when the returning officer earned the wrath of the top court for openly "defacing" ballots to change the course of the election in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate.

"Your purpose is fair election. We will do that," said a bench of justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh as it issued notice on a petition filed by Dhalor on the limited issue of appointing a former high court judge as observer to monitor the polls.

The bench, however, turned down Dhalor's plea to consider that his one-year tenure be counted from February 20, 2024 - the date when the top court declared him elected - holding that only the result was set aside, not the elections held on January 30 last year.

With the polls scheduled on January 30 this year as well, Punjab's advocate general Gurminder Singh, appearing for Dhalor, said, "We are once bitten twice shy after what happened last time. Despite the high court order to get the entire election video graphed last year, gross irregularities occurred in the counting of ballots...We are interested in the fairness of elections. They have declared the election by secret ballot. Let there be show of hands and not secret ballot."