Draft:Anil Masih

Anil Masih is the presiding officer well-known due to his involvement in the Chandigarh mayoral elections in the union territory of Chandigarh in India during January-February 2024 period. . He was designated as a presiding officer to oversee the election process and the counting of the votes. A controversy emerged immediately after counting of votes wherein allegations were made on him regarding declaration of votes as invalid resulting in candidate with minority winning the elections. This generated a huge media interest, especially due to wide circulation of CCTV footage where he was seen as making some marks on the ballot papers. In an unprecedented step by the Supreme Court of India, it took up the matter immediately after earlier effort to stay the elections at Punjab and Haryana High Court had failed. In the aftermath of the elections, Mr. Masih was asked to appear in front of the bench of Supreme Court of India led by the then Chief Justice of India and probed for his involvement. The responses made during his first and second appearance led to unprecedented scenario where the counting of votes was done in the court for the first time in history of the independent India. All 8 votes which had previously been set aside by the presiding officer were deemed valid for the purpose of counting which led to the petitioner (and the majority candidate originally declared defeated) as the mayor of Chandigarh