Anil Masih, the former presiding officer of the Chandigarh mayoral polls, has issued an unconditional apology before the Supreme Court on Friday. Masih faced criticism for his involvement in defacing ballot papers during the election process.
Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi represented Masih before a bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, where he tendered an apology to the Court on Masih's behalf.
According to a report of Bar and Bench, We have rendered an unconditional apology. I had a long chat with him. He will withdraw the first affidavit and surrender to the magnanimity of this court. This is an unconditional apology," the Senior Counsel told the bench.
The Supreme Court has scheduled the next hearing for the matter in the second week of July. This follows the Court's decision in February to overturn the declaration made by Masih, the Returning Officer (RO), who had declared the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) candidate as the winner of the Chandigarh Mayor polls. Masih's decision came under scrutiny after a video showing him defacing ballot papers surfaced and went viral.
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The Court's action comes in response to a petition filed by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Councillor Kuldeep Kumar, who alleged fraud in Masih's decision to declare BJP's Manoj Sonkar (who has since resigned) as the Chandigarh Mayor on January 30. Masih had invalidated eight votes for the AAP candidate, but CCTV footage captured him defacing these eight ballot papers.