Delhi HC sets aside mayor’s decision for repoll to elect members of MCD standing committee

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court Tuesday set aside the decision of Mayor Shelly Oberoi to call for a repoll to elect six members of the MCD standing committee and directed her to declare forthwith the results of the poll held on February 24 while treating the “disputed vote” to be in favour of BJP councillor Pankaj Luthra.

Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav said the mayor, also the returning officer (RO), acted beyond her powers and her decision was impermissible as it was “not based on any material relevant to the issue”.

“The action of Mayor/RO of rejecting the ballot and declaring it to be invalid, after the stage of scrutiny had reached and the quota successfully ascertained, the same is bad in law,” the judge said in his 76-page order.

“The respondent no.4-Mayor/RO is directed to declare the result in form no.4, forthwith while treating the disputed vote to have been validly cast in favour of Mr Pankaj Luthra,” ordered the judge.

The court’s order came on petitions by BJP councillors Kamaljeet Sehrawat and Shikha Roy against the mayor’s decision to order repoll for six MCD standing committee seats, amid the running fued between the saffron party and AAP.

The petitioners had alleged that the mayor, who belongs to AAP and was the returning officer, wrongly invalidated one of the votes and interdicted the election process upon finding the results “politically unpalatable”.

The court noted that of the six elected candidates, there were three members each from BJP and AAP with no invalid ballot being found after scrutiny but, subsequently, the mayor declared one vote as invalid and did not declare the results but announced repoll.

Citing the Municipal Secretary, the court said the vote that was declared invalid had been cast in favour of Luthra.

The court emphasised that once the stage of scrutiny is over, re-scrutinising ballot papers cannot be legally permissible under law and, if such an exercise is allowed, the election process could never come to a halt.