New Delhi : The Delhi High Court on Tuesday set aside Mayor Shelly Oberoi’s decision to hold re-voting for the election of the members of the Standing Committee of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). The court directed the mayor to immediately declare the results of the vote held on February 24 and accept the disputed vote in favor of BJP corporator Pankaj Luthra. Justice Purushendra Kumar Kaurav said that the mayor (who is also the returning officer) had acted beyond his powers and his decision was legally unacceptable, as it was not based on any relevant material relating to the issue.
Mayor’s action legally wrong
Justice Purushendra Kumar Kaurav, in his 76-page order, said that the action of the mayor or the RO to reject the ballot paper and declare it invalid after reaching the scrutiny stage and successfully ensuring the quota is wrong in law. He ordered that the respondent No.4-Mayor or RO be directed to immediately declare the result in Form No.4 treating the disputed vote as validly cast in favor of Pankaj Luthra.
Mayor wanted re-voting on six seats
The court’s order came on a petition filed by BJP corporators Kamaljeet Sehrawat and Shikha Roy, challenging the mayor’s decision to hold re-polling on six MCD standing committee seats. The court said in the order that the writ petition is accepted. The impugned order is set aside. The Returning Officer is directed to declare the result immediately.
Illegal ballot not found in investigation
The petitioners had alleged that the mayor belonged to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and was the Returning Officer, wrongfully invalidating a vote and obstructing the election process by yielding a politically unfavourable result. The court said that out of six elected candidates, there were three members each from BJP and AAP, after which no illegal ballot was found, but later the mayor declared one vote invalid and announced re-voting without declaring the result. .
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Ballots cannot be checked again
The court emphasized that once the stage of scrutiny is over, re-scrutiny of ballot papers cannot be legally permissible under the law. If such an exercise is allowed, the election process can never stop. The court ordered that the writ petition is accepted. The impugned order dated 24 February 2023 is accordingly set aside.
