Following the Supreme Court's confirmation of AAP candidate Kuldeep Kumar's election as Chandigarh mayor, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) launched a scathing attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), labeling it as "corrupt, fraud, and cheat." Senior AAP leader and Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj criticized the BJP, the world's largest political party, during a press conference, highlighting malpractices captured on camera during a mayoral election.
"The biggest political party of the world, BJP was seen doing malpractices - on camera - in a mayoral election. This is a matter of concern for the country. What would the party be doing where there is no camera and no microphone? How can you trust the Central Government at all those places? Supreme Court has exposed the Central Government in this matter...Central Government's topmost advocate represented the Presiding Officer before the Supreme Court," said Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj.
AAP Chandigarh president Sunny Ahluwalia responded to the verdict, noting that the apex court acknowledged the incorrect declaration of eight votes as invalid. Chief Justice of India (CJI) also mentioned that the eight votes, initially declared invalid by the presiding officer, would now be considered valid.
The Supreme Court invalidated the results of the Chandigarh mayoral poll, declaring AAP councillor Kuldeep Kumar as the winner. The court found a legitimate case for initiating proceedings under Section 340 CrPC against Anil Masih, the Returning Officer for the Chandigarh Mayor poll. The Registrar Judicial was directed to issue a notice to Masih, prompting him to show cause as to why actions should not be taken against him. The Supreme Court ordered that the eight votes, initially treated as invalid, were indeed validly passed in favor of AAP candidate Kuldeep Kumar. The court stated, "Counting the eight votes for him will make him have 20 votes." The Supreme Court conclusively directed the quashing of the election result declared by the presiding officer.