From cooker seller to returning officer— Anil Masih’s journey
Meet the official who allegedly threw a mayoral election in Chandigarh and earned the ire of the Chief Justice of India
“He is murdering democracy. Is this the way an officer has to conduct elections? We are appalled by his conduct.”
These strong words were uttered by the Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud on Monday after he saw a video recording that showed Anil Masih, the presiding officer, defacing ballot papers at Chandigarh's mayoral election held last month.
“Is this the behaviour of a Returning Officer? Wherever there is a cross at the bottom, he does not touch it, and when it is at the top, he alters it. Please tell the Returning Officer that the Supreme Court is watching him,” the CJI observed.
The Court was hearing a plea by Kuldeep Dhalor, the common candidate put up by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Congress, who lost to his rival, Manoj Sonkar of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after eight votes were declared invalid post voting — no reason was explicitly provided for declaring the votes invalid. With Sonkar securing 16 votes and Dhalor getting 12 in a house where the AAP and Congress had 20 councillors, the two parties immediately alleged vote rigging and moved the SC.
Masih was the presiding officer of the mayoral elections conducted in the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation on January 30. The deputy commissioner (DC) was the returning officer — both officers are required to play an impartial supervisory role in conducting the election.
A presiding officer is a temporary position; it is an administrative role only to oversee the mayoral elections. The ruling party — at present, the BJP — in the Chandigarh corporation recommends a name to the presiding authority, the DC. Masih, a member of the BJP since 2015, is a nominated councillor of the Municipal Corporation since 2022.
He was one of nine councillors nominated by the administrator of the Union territory (with the go-ahead of the Punjab Governor). None of the nominated councillors have voting rights and are expected to provide expert advice on development matters of the city. While there is no rule that a presiding officer cannot belong to a political party, it has been the norm to appoint a nominated councillor as the presiding officer since the formation of the corporation in 1996.
The 53-year-old had decidedly less officious beginnings: his first job was as a marketing executive with a pressure cooker company, which was followed by a role as a marketing executive with a water purifier company — both in Chandigarh. Masih, a practising member of the Church of North India (CNI), said that now he was completely “dedicated to politics”.
There are 36 councillors in Chandigarh and each is given a ballot paper on which they are required to put a stamp against their choice of the mayoral candidates.
As per the Municipal Corporation Act, 1996, Punjab (extended to Union Territory, Chandigarh) the stamp should only be made in the box against the name of the candidate. The ballot paper should carry no other mark of any kind. However, in the video that the CJI saw — and which did the rounds of social media as well — Masih allegedly put marks with his pen on eight ballot papers submitted by the AAP and Congress councillors. He did so after counting all 36 votes and then declared the ballot papers with markings invalid.
Masih’s family hails from Ambala in Haryana. His father shifted to Chandigarh after he got a job at the Punjab Engineering College in Sector 12. Masih studied at a government school in Sector 11 and graduated from DAV College in Sector 10. Masih is married — his wife works as a manager at a girls’ hostel affiliated with a college. His family, which also comprises two sons, stays on the campus.
Masih joined the Bharatiya Janata Party as a member in 2015. He was a regular at all party events and represented the minority wing. In 2021, he was made general secretary of the BJP’s minority morcha wing. A year later, in October 2022, the party nominated him as a councillor — a post that lasted for five years.
A former pastor of the CNI in Sector 18 Chandigarh, who did not wish to be named, said, “Masih played politics in the church. Since most of the members in the church were aligned towards the Congress or non-BJP supporters, he joined the BJP in 2015 and started bringing local BJP leaders to church events despite the Pastorate committee’s decision not to entertain any political leaders in the Church. He even used abusive language on the premises.”
In 2018, the CNI barred him from participating in all church activities after he allegedly used abusive language at a committee meeting and even spoke against the faith. He was, however, reinstated after two years.
Professor Emanual Nahar, former chairman of the Punjab State Commission for Minorities and former secretary of the CNI, who knew Masih, said that the latter was not loyal to the Church, and now it was clear, “he is not loyal to the Constitution”.
“Whoever murders democracy deserves punishment,” Nahar said.
However, Masih denied all allegations of wrongdoing.
“I followed the procedure as per the Municipal Corporation Act 1996, Punjab Act. I had called counting agents to check the polled ballot papers after I declared the results. But councillors of the AAP and Congress jumped on the table and tried to take away the ballot papers with them. In the scuffle, some votes even got torn off,” he said.
In the court, the solicitor general representing the Union territory of Chandigarh called Masih an “administrative officer”. SG Tushar Mehta said: “The Court should not form an opinion after hearing only one side. This petition is purely political. The ballots have been preserved. The returning officer is an administrative officer. Several councillors were seeking to take away the ballots and create a ruckus as marshals had to be called.”
To this, the SC replied: “We want our conscience to be satisfied or else we will order fresh elections. Produce the entire video before us.”
The Supreme Court bench directed the entire election record, including ballot papers and videography, be sealed and preserved with the registrar of the Punjab and Haryana high court till the next date of hearing. It also summoned Masih to be present in Court.
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