Citizens' Accountability LedgerWho owned the mess? 25 years, every party, on the record

Case 68 · Democratic institutions

Chandigarh mayor poll. Ballots defaced on camera

30 Jan 2024

'Murder of democracy'. Supreme Court.

928 days since Nobody has been held to account.

Human cost
An entire electorate's verdict, nearly stolen by one official
Financial cost
8 opposition votes wrongly voided to hand the seat to the ruling party

What happened

In the Chandigarh mayoral election the returning officer declared eight votes of the opposition INDIA bloc invalid, handing the seat to the BJP candidate, while a video showed him defacing ballots and glancing at the camera.

Claim against record

What the government said

The officer first claimed the ballots were already defaced; the Supreme Court rejected this after watching the video.

What the record shows

'Murder of democracy'. Supreme Court.

Caught on tape, the officer's conduct was defended in court by the government's own law officer. The Supreme Court called it a murder of democracy, said the officer should be prosecuted, and took the rare step of counting the voided votes itself to declare the rightful winner, delivering the accountability the system had refused.

What accountability should have looked like

Independent, videographed election administration with instant consequences for tampering, not a top court forced to referee a rigged municipal vote.

Ministers and office-holders responsible

Naming who held the portfolio is a matter of public record. It is not by itself a finding of personal responsibility for any death or any rupee.

Sources

T1 primary record · T2 reporting · T3 partisan

Ask them officially. File an RTI Know a better source? Add one

Cite or export this case

Citizens' Accountability Ledger, "Chandigarh mayor poll. Ballots defaced on camera" (30 Jan 2024), case-31. https://whoisresponsible.xyz/case/case-31/

JSON for this case The whole ledger as CSV

Quote the case id rather than the number on the card. The id never changes; the number shifts whenever an older case is added ahead of this one.