The Supreme Court on Monday decided to appoint an independent observer to conduct elections for the post of mayor and deputy mayor of the Chandigarh municipal corporation in a free and fair manner. The name of the observer wasn’t specified by the bench while dictating its order in court but will be added in its order copy later.
A bench led by Justice Surya Kant directed that the election process has to be conducted in the observer’s physical presence, and the entire exercise should also be videographed. The top court’s directions came in a plea filed by current Mayor Kuldeep Kumar through Advocates Karan Sharma and Vivek Jain.
The court issued the direction considering a mutually agreeable stand taken by both sides after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the municipal corporation, submitted that he had no objections. The petitioner in this case had also demanded that the Chandigarh Mayor election should not be conducted through secret ballot.
A notice was issued during the last hearing on the limited aspect of appointing an independent observer for elections. During the hearing today, Solicitor General Mehta left it to the court’s discretion to decide if an observer should be appointed. “History may not repeat every time, but if the court thinks it fits, then someone may be appointed to monitor the process. We leave it to the court. But it shouldn’t become a precedent. Every corporation may not come here to seek such benefits. There can be an observer for orderly conduct of elections,” the SG said.
The court clarified that it was only considering the case on the limited point that complete transparency be maintained during elections. The court also noted that the petitioner is the current mayor, and had approached the High Court seeking directions to defer elections till February 20, 2025 on the premise that he will complete his tenure on that date, a prayer that was declined by the High Court.
During the last hearing, the court had heard the petitioner’s counsel and was not inclined to interfere. Published By: ramesh sharma Published On: Jan 27, 2025
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