'Murder of democracy 1st happened in Maharashtra': Sanjay Raut's dig on SC

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut stated that the 'murder of democracy' occurred first in Maharashtra, but the court did nothing

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Tuesday took a dig at the Supreme Court (SC) over the latter's remark that the "murder of democracy" took place during the Chandigarh mayoral elections last month.

Referring to the Eknath Shinde-led revolt of Shiv Sena MLAs that subsequently resulted in the collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray government, Raut stated that the "murder of democracy" occurred first in Maharashtra, but the court did nothing.

"What happens by taking cognizance? Cognizance was taken in Maharashtra too. The murder of democracy first happened in Maharashtra. What did the Supreme Court do?" Raut was quoted by news agency ANI.

Sanjay Raut, a loyalist of Thackeray, alleged that Eknath Shinde had formed an unconstitutional government.

"The Assembly Speaker did not listen to it [SC] and made a wrong decision and established an unconstitutional government, now we will see what the Supreme Court is going to do next," he added.

Shinde affected the rebellion in 2022, claiming Thackeray was not following the Hindutva route paved by his father and Shiv Sena founder, Bal Thackeray. He later teamed up with the BJP to establish a government in Maharashtra.

Recently, Maharashtra Assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar ruled that Shinde's Shiv Sena is the real party.

Supreme Court on Chandigarh mayor elections

Supreme Court (SC) on Monday said the presiding officer during the Chandigarh mayoral elections, Anil Masih, defaced the ballot papers before declaring them invalid.

The bench said the presiding officer's actions were a mockery of democracy.

"Is this the way he conducts the elections? This is a mockery of democracy. This is the murder of democracy. We are appalled. We will not allow democracy to be murdered this way. The man defaces ballots the moment he sees a cross at the bottom. This man should be prosecuted. Is this the behaviour of the returning officer?" the bench said.

Chandigarh results

BJP candidate Manoj Sonkar defeated AAP-Congress's joint candidate Kuldeep Dhalor by a 16-12 score. The alliance had 20 members in the council, but Masih declared eight votes invalid.

The AAP councillor appealed a Punjab and Haryana High Court judgment that refused to grant any interim relief to the party seeking new mayoral elections in Chandigarh. He later moved the Supreme Court.