’Had full faith in Supreme Court’: AAP’s Kuldeep Kumar takes charge as Chandigarh Mayor

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor Kuldeep Kumar on Wednesday took charge as Chandigarh's mayor. On February 20, the Supreme Court, in its judgement in the Chandigarh mayor polls, declared him as the winner of the elections, quashing Returning Officer Anil Masih's decision by which BJP candidate Manoj Kumar Sonkar was declared as Chandigarh Mayor on January 30.

Kumar, after taking charge as Chandigarh Mayor, told media that he had full faith that he would get justice at theSupreme Court.

"I had a hope that I would get justice. For that, we moved to the Supreme Court, and I had full faith that we would get justice there," he said.

According to a report in The Tribune, the Punjab and Haryana High Court said that the newly elected Chandigarh mayor Kuldeep Kumar had to assume his post at 10 am on February 28.

The court also called upon the elected councillors to file the nomination for the election to the posts of Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor and deliver the same from February 28 to February 29.

The newly elected mayor, Kuldeep Kumar, will preside over the elections on March 4.

The Bench, according to The Tribune’s report, has directed Kuldeep Kumar, the newly elected Chandigarh mayor, to ensure his association with the conduct of the upcoming elections.

Congress and AAP, who are part of the INDIA bloc, had reached an understanding under which it was decided that AAP would fight for the post of Mayor and Congress for Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor.

Last week, the Supreme Court found that the Returning Officer, Anil Masih, had on January 30 deliberately defaced eight ballots that were cast in favour of Kuldeep Kumar so as to make them invalid.

The apex court had physically examined the ballot papers and found that they were not defaced. It directed that Kuldeep Kumar be declared mayor with 20 votes (12 votes which he received and eight which were for him and were defaced by Masih).