"Theft And Scams": Akhilesh Yadav's Jibe At BJP Amid Chandigarh Vote-Count Row

The returning officer who conducted the Chandigarh mayoral polls "accepting the crime of rigging" the elections shows how hungry the BJP is for power, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said on Monday after the Supreme Court came down heavily on the officer for allegedly defacing ballot papers.

BJP supporters should understand how the party is winning every election through "theft and scams". Neither the country nor the future of their own children is safe in the hands of such people, Mr Yadav said in a post on X in Hindi.

Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court posed searching questions to Returning Officer Anil Masih and said that putting a mark on ballot papers cannot be allowed in an electoral democracy.

During the hearing, Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud voiced displeasure over the way the January 30 mayoral polls were held and told Mr Masih that he could be prosecuted in case of any falsehood.

"The (pro-)BJP presiding officer's accepting the crime of rigging the Chandigarh mayor elections shows how hungry the BJP is for power. On legal and constitutional grounds, the BJP should apologise to the entire country and give up power everywhere," Mr Yadav said.

BJP supporters should hang their heads their heads for this "shameful act" of openly killing democracy, he said.

"They should understand how the BJP is winning every election through theft and scams. Neither the country nor... the future of their children is safe in the hands of such people," he added.

The SP chief said those officers who commit "criminal acts" under pressure from the government should also learn a lesson from this incident. This will ruin their lives and that of their families because such crimes are no less than treason and they will face strict punishment.

Voicing its deep concern over "horse-trading", the Supreme Court said it will examine on Tuesday the ballot papers of the Chandigarh mayoral polls and the video recording of the counting.

It also said that instead of ordering fresh polls, it may consider declaration of results on the basis of votes already cast.

The BJP had swept the Chandigarh mayoral polls, in a setback to the Congress-AAP alliance that alleged tampering with ballot papers by the presiding officer.

The BJP's Manoj Sonkar had defeated the AAP's Kuldeep Kumar for the mayor's post, polling 16 votes against his rival's 12. Eight votes were declared invalid.

Mr Kumar had later moved the Supreme Court.

Sonkar, however, resigned on Sunday while three AAP councillors defected to the BJP.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)