LegalAware
LegalAware.ai
EMPOWERING LEGAL AWARENESS

Kuldeep Kumar vs U.T. Chandigarh and Others

Not available · 2024 INSC 129Decided 20 Feb 2024
Not available
Chief Justice Dr. Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud · Justice J.B. Pardiwala · Justice Manoj Misra

Background

This is the widely reported Chandigarh Mayor election case. Kuldeep Kumar, a candidate backed by an AAP-Congress alliance, contested the Mayor's election of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation on 30 January 2024 against BJP candidate Manoj Kumar Sonkar. The Presiding Officer, Anil Masih, declared Sonkar the winner with 16 votes to Kuldeep Kumar's 12, after treating 8 ballots cast for Kuldeep Kumar as "invalid." Alleging electoral malpractice, Kuldeep Kumar approached the High Court, which declined to stay the result; he then approached the Supreme Court, which had the entire election record, including video footage of the counting, sequestered and produced before it.

Decision Breakdown

On viewing the video footage and physically examining the eight disputed ballots, the Supreme Court found that all eight had, in fact, been validly cast for Kuldeep Kumar, and that the Presiding Officer had deliberately defaced them by scribbling ink marks on the ballots himself during counting: none of the three grounds under the governing regulations for invalidating a ballot were actually present. The Presiding Officer's own explanation (that the ballots were "already defaced") was found to be a deliberate falsehood told to the Court. Rather than ordering a fresh election, which the Court felt would reward and further entrench the misconduct, it invoked its extraordinary power under Article 142 of the Constitution to directly declare Kuldeep Kumar the validly elected Mayor, added the 8 wrongly invalidated votes to his tally (making it 20 against Sonkar's 16), and ordered proceedings for perjury/false-statement (under Section 340 CrPC) against the Presiding Officer.

Lesson Learnt

Free and fair elections (even at the local, municipal level) are treated by the courts as part of the basic structure of democracy, and where video evidence clearly proves that an election officer manipulated the count, the Supreme Court will use its widest constitutional powers to directly correct the result rather than let a subverted process stand or be repeated.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

More rulings in Election Law

Election LawSupreme Court of India

V. Pon. Paneerselvam v. S. Regupathy & Ors.

The Supreme Court dismissed the special leave petition and upheld the election petition's dismissal. It held that presentation by the petitioner under Section 81 of the Representation of the People Act was mandatory, with non-compliance attracting dismissal under Section 86 rather than a later opportunity to cure it. The Madras High Court rule specifying personal presentation before a Registry officer validly regulated receipt of the petition and did not conflict with the Act. The entry pass and asserted CCTV evidence showed, at most, presence in the building rather than personal presentation, while the security-deposit receipt named counsel. The Court distinguished a precedent accepting delivery through an advocate's clerk in the petitioner's immediate presence, because that was not the factual case asserted here; the election allegations were not decided on their merits.

Decided 7 Oct 2026Read case
Election LawSupreme Court of India

Dr. Jaya Thakur v. Union of India

This is a split decision, not a final judgment. The two judges disagreed on whether the case must first go to a Constitution Bench under Article 145(3) of the Constitution. Justice Datta would have heard the petitions, while Justice Sharma held that a reference was needed. Because of the disagreement, the papers were placed before the Chief Justice of India to set up a larger bench. The Court did not rule on whether the 2023 Act is valid.

Decided 23 Sept 2026Read case
Election LawDelhi High Court

Manav Adhikar Kalyan Mishan Sanstha vs. Municipal Corporation of Delhi and Ors.

The Court found the petitioner to be a "busybody" making vague, unsubstantiated allegations without proper legal standing, noting also that the Supreme Court itself had directed these very elections to be completed on a strict timeline given their importance for finalizing Delhi's street-vending plan. It held that a challenge to an already-concluded election must be brought as a specific election petition targeting a particular candidate or seat, not as a general public interest litigation filed after results are out. The petition was dismissed, with Rs. 10,000 in costs imposed personally on the society's president for filing what the Court considered a frivolous case.

Decided 10 Sept 2026Read case
Election LawSupreme Court of India

State Election Commission vs Shakti Singh Barthwal & Anr.

The Court heard the applicant's counsel, who tendered an unconditional and bona fide apology, backed by assurances from senior members of the Bar (Mr. Vikas Singh, Senior Advocate, and Mr. Vipin Nair, Advocate) that such conduct would not recur. The Court reiterated that once it has indicated its mind on a matter, counsel are expected to respect that and not persist, since orderly functioning of the Court depends on the Bench and Bar working in harmony. Considering that this was the counsel's first such incident before the Bench and given the sincere apology, the Court allowed the application, deleting both the adverse remarks and the Rs. 2 lakh cost, but cautioned that such conduct must not be repeated.

Decided 28 Oct 2025Read case
Election LawSupreme Court of India

Tankadhar Tripathy v. Dipali Das

The Supreme Court reaffirmed settled law that a Form 25 affidavit defect in an election petition is curable and does not automatically make the petition invalid, provided there is "substantial compliance" with the requirement: a stricter, all-or-nothing approach from an older 2000 judgment has since been superseded by more recent rulings favoring a liberal, curable approach. However, the Court found that the High Court's order did not properly explain what specific defects existed in the affidavit or whether they amounted to substantial compliance, so it sent the matter back to the High Court to conduct that analysis properly and decide whether the defect can be, and was, cured within the law's time limits.

Decided 22 Aug 2025Read case
Election LawSupreme Court of India

Ajmera Shyam v. Kova Laxmi

The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal, holding that not every non-disclosure in a nomination affidavit is fatal to an election. The law distinguishes between criminal-antecedent disclosures (treated strictly) and disclosures of assets, income, or educational qualifications (which only void an election if the omission is of a "substantial" character that could have materially affected the result). Since Kova Laxmi had disclosed her assets, PAN, occupation, and income source, and no candidate had objected during scrutiny of nominations, the missing income-tax figures were held inconsequential and not proven to be deliberate concealment.

Decided 14 Aug 2025Read case