The Court said that Masih had "unlawfully altered the course of the mayoral election" and that he had made statement before the Court that was a "patent falsehood."

Manoj Sonkar of the BJP was declared the winner of the Mayor elections on January 30th, securing victory with 16 votes compared to the 12 votes received by the Congress-AAP candidate, Kuldeep Kumar.

The Court, therefore, issued a show cause notice to Masih. The Court was reviewing a petition filed by AAP Councillor Kuldeep Kumar, who raised allegations of fraud concerning RO Masih's decision to declare Manoj Sonkar, a candidate from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who has since resigned, as the Chandigarh Mayor on January 30th.

Despite the AAP-Congress alliance holding a majority in the house with 20 members, Manoj Sonkar of the BJP was declared the winner of the Mayor elections with 16 votes, while the Congress-AAP candidate, Kuldeep Kumar, received 12 votes. Out of a total of 36 votes cast, 8 were rejected during the counting process as invalid.

Initially, AAP councillor Kuldeep Kumar challenged the results of the Mayor poll before the Punjab and Haryana High Court. However, when the High Court declined to stay the election results, he subsequently filed a plea before the Supreme Court.

Significantly, while the case was under consideration by the Supreme Court, the BJP candidate, Sonkar, resigned from the position of Mayor on Monday, and three AAP councillors switched their allegiance to the BJP.

This development was taken note of by the top court on Monday which said that it was "distressed" by such "horse-trading."

During Monday's hearing, Masih claimed that he had merely marked the eight ballot papers submitted by the AAP-Congress alliance with ticks and "x" marks to distinguish them, as he deemed them to be "defaced."

When the case was brought up for hearing today, the Court was presented with the ballot papers as per its earlier directive.

Upon examination of the ballot papers, the bench observed that those marked as invalid by Masih were evidently votes cast in favor of the AAP candidate.

After hearing all parties involved, the Court reached the conclusion that Masih had tampered with the electoral process. Consequently, it invalidated the election results declared by Masih and declared the AAP candidate as the rightful winner.

Advocates RPS Bara, Ferry Sofat, and Kuldeep Kaur also appeared in the case for the petitioner (AAP councillor). Senior Advocate Maninder Singh represented certain other candidates. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appeared for the Chandigarh administration.