SC seeks ballot papers for Chd mayoral polls
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday grilled the returning officer (RO) for the Chandigarh Municipal Polls, Anil Masih, over why he had made marks (ticks and X marks) on the ballot papers he was tasked to count and said it would peruse the ballot papers on Tuesday and the entire video-recording of the counting day.
The court directed the registrar general of the Punjab and Haryana high court to depute a judicial officer to bring the records safely to Delhi, and warned that the RO could be prosecuted if he made any attempts to lie to the Court.
“This is a very serious matter. All that you say... if any falsehood you will be prosecuted... Why were you looking into the camera and putting marks in the ballot papers?” asked Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud.
Masih who was present in court replied that he was “just marking” the ballot papers that were defaced, and that he happened to look at one of many CCTV cameras in the counting area.
Masih added that he had made the marks on eight ballot papers, only to set them apart. The CJI was not convinced by the RO’s explanation.
“You can sign the ballot papers... Why were you ticking or putting X on those ballot papers?... Which rule says that you can put ticks or X in those ballot papers?... He (Masih) has to be prosecuted. In an electoral democracy, this cannot be allowed,” the CJI remarked.
A bench led by CJI Chandrachud and justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra was hearing a plea by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor Kuldeep Kumar challenging the Punjab and Haryana high court’s refusal to grant an immediate stay on the election result in which a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate was declared elected as the Chandigarh Mayor.
Notably, the mayor so elected
THE COURT TOLD THE REGISTRAR GENERAL OF THE PUNJAB AND HARYANA HC TO DEPUTE A JUDICIAL OFFICER TO BRING THE RECORDS SAFELY TO DELHI
JAIPUR: Two students, one preparing for JEE, and another for NEET, in different institutes in Kota went missing last week, said the local police.
“While the first student, a 16-year-old JEE aspirant- went missing on February 11 after leaving the hostel to take an exam in his coaching centre, another 17-year-old student pursuing NEET, went missing on February 13, and was last seen in the Kota railway station on the same day,” said a senior police official familiar with the matter who asked not to be named.
The disappearances highlight the toxic mix of peer- and parental-pressure, loneliness, performance anxiety, and aspirations in a town that’s dubbed India’s test-prep capital.
Last year, 27 students died by suicide in Kota, the highest since the administration began collecting such data in 2015. Three students have died so far this year, the latest being a JEE aspirant from Chhattisgarh who died by suicide at a hostel in Mahaveer Nagar after scoring poorly in JEE (Mains) on February 13.
According to the police, the JEE student from MP was staying in a hostel in Kota’s Jawahar Nagar for over a year and left for a weekly test in his institute. “However, when he did not return till the evening and his phone could not be reached, his parents arrived in the city, and lodged a missing complaint with the police,” said the officer.
CCTV showed the boy taking a taxi to a forested area close to Chambal river. “He was also spotted entering the forest but did not come out. His mobile phone, bag, shoe were recovered by the police from near the forest on Monday evening,” the officer added. “We suspect that he died by suicide,” added the officer.The other boy, from UP, went missing on February 13.“The teen’s parent on February 13 contacted police and the hostel warden when he did not respond to their calls. Based on a complaint lodged by his parents, the police started searching for him,” said officer cited in the first instance.