Supreme Court Overturns Haryana Sarpanch Election Result After Recounting Of EVM Votes By Its Registrar

In a rare occurrence, the Supreme Court recently overturned the results of a Gram Panchayat election in Haryana after summoning the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) to itself and recounting of votes by its Registrar.

Upon recounting, the 'defeated' candidate was found to have obtained 51 more votes than the candidate who was declared elected. As such, subject to the final judgment of the Election Tribunal, the Court directed the Deputy Commissioner-cum-Election Officer, Panipat to issue within 2 days a notification declaring the defeated candidate (petitioner) as the elected Sarpanch of the Gram Panchayat.

The petitioner shall be entitled to assume the said office forthwith and perform his duties, the Court said.

"there being prima facie no reason to doubt the Report submitted by the OSD (Registrar) of this Court, especially when the entire recounting has been duly videographed and its result is signed by the representatives of the parties, we are satisfied that the appellant deserves to be declared as the elected Sarpanch of Gram Panchayat, Buana Lakhu Village, District Panipat, Haryana in the election held on 22.11.2022", a bench of Justices Surya Kant, Dipankar Datta and N Kotiswar Singh ordered.

During the hearing, Justice Kant commented that respondent No.1 (the candidate who was earlier declared elected) was not to be blamed. "All this blunder happened in only 1 booth...complete mess created by Returning Officer/the Counting Officer, it is he who committed a blunder...in these kind of matters, the only solution is, you go for recount...never thought that High Court will write 15 pages to deny recount!" said the judge.

Briefly put, the case pertained to the election of a Sarpanch in Haryana's Panipat held in 2022. Initially, respondent No.1-Kuldeep Singh was declared elected. However, the same day, the Returning Officer suo-motu ordered recounting of votes, owing to an error in preparation of the result by the Presiding Officer at one of the booths. After the result was re-prepared, petitioner-Mohit Kumar was declared elected.

Aggrieved, Kuldeep Singh approached the High Court, which held in his favor, noting that once a candidate is declared elected, the result cannot be suo motu changed by re-counting of votes and the appropriate remedy available to an aggrieved party is to file an election petition. On this view, the High Court set aside Mohit Kumar's election and directed the authorities to notify Kuldeep Singh as the elected Sarpanch.

Subsequently, Mohit Kumar filed an election petition, wherein Kuldeep Singh raised preliminary objection on the ground of limitation. The matter reached the Supreme Court, which rejected Kuldeep Singh's objection and directed the Election Tribunal to decide the case within four months. 

In April this year, the Election Tribunal held that there was a need to recount votes of one of the booths (Booth No.69). The Deputy Commissioner-cum-Election Officer was directed to re-count the votes, however, the Tribunal's order was set aside by the High Court on Kuldeep Singh's appeal. Aggrieved, Mohit Kumar approached the Supreme Court.

In July, the top Court ordered production of the concerned EVMs before a nominated Registrar, who was to recount the votes not only for Booth No.69 but for all booths. The recounting was ordered to be video-graphed and parties' agents allowed to remain present. In this backdrop, a Registrar of the Supreme Court was nominated and carried out the recounting of votes for 5 booths. The Registrar's report indicated that in the revised result, Mohit Kumar got 51 votes more than Kuldeep Singh.

On August 11, the Court reversed the election results and noted that in ordinary course, it would have closed the proceedings by declaring the petitioner as the elected candidate. However, since respondent No.1 contended that certain other issues remained to be adjudicated before the Tribunal, the parties were at liberty to agitate their issues, if any, before the Tribunal.

At the same time, the Court made it clear that on the aspect of recounting of votes, the Tribunal shall accept the report of the Supreme Court's Registrar as final and conclusive. Setting aside the High Court order, it also clarified that the petitioner's declaration as Sarpanch shall remain subject to the Tribunal's final judgment.

Case Title: MOHIT KUMAR Versus KULDEEP SINGH AND ORS., SLP(C) No. 18410/2025

Citation : 2025 LiveLaw (SC) 809

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