Editorial: Victory for democracy

Political parties as they have the primary responsibility of upholding the sanctity of the election process

Irrespective of whether the posts are big or small, free and fair elections are imperative to maintain the legitimacy and trust in democracy. What happened in the recent Chandigarh mayoral election was a blot on democracy. Fortunately, the Supreme Court, exercising its power under Article 142 of the Constitution, overturned the results, declaring the AAP-Congress candidate Kuldeep Kumar as the winner instead of the previously declared BJP candidate Manoj Sonkar. The apex court rightly held that the presiding officer intentionally defaced eight votes that were for the alliance candidate to invalidate them. The unsavoury episode holds important lessons for political parties as they have the primary responsibility of upholding the sanctity of the process. While hearing a petition on allegations of vote tampering, the division bench, headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, ruled that the eight ‘defaced’ votes should be considered valid. It asserted that in such a case, the top court was duty-bound to ensure that the process of electoral democracy was not allowed to be thwarted by subterfuge. The court’s commendable intervention has undone a grave wrong. The verdict came as a tight slap on the face of BJP’s poll managers who thought they could get away with the blatant manipulation of the election process. The court also ordered the prosecution of returning officer Anil Masih, a BJP leader, for his misdemeanour. The opposition I.N.D.I.A bloc, bogged down by differences among its constituents, finally has something to cheer about.

The AAP-Congress joint candidate’s victory has underscored the urgent need for the opposition to get its act together in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections. The verdict came as a stern reminder to all stakeholders — political parties, the electorate and the poll authorities at all levels — that the sanctity and fairness of the electoral exercise must be protected at all costs. Efforts to subvert the mandate are a blot on our democracy and should not be tolerated. The timely judicial intervention has given new hope to the cynical voices reconciled to the belief that victory can be managed through foul means. Such interventions go a long way in restoring public faith in the power of elections. Hopefully, the Chandigarh case will serve as a deterrent against the use of unfair means in elections. The court has now laid down an important red line for those who would seek to bend due process to their will to win. The mayoral election may have been a small arena, but the stakes were painted larger. After all, AAP leaders had elevated the poll to the national platform by calling it the beginning of the victorious march of the I.N.D.I.A bloc. At stake were 35 votes and the returning officer invalidated eight votes cast by members of the AAP-Congress alliance, tipping the scales for a narrow victory for the BJP.