Defeated candidate wins after SC recounts votes in sarpanch election

The sarpanch election of Buana Lakhu village at Panipat in Haryana took an unexpected turn recently after the votes were recounted on the Supreme Court premises following the court’s order.

The recount, done by a Registrar of the Supreme Court under video surveillance in the Supreme Court, turned the election result on its head. Mohit Kumar, who had been declared as defeated in the previous result and later approached the apex court, won by a good margin.

The controversy began in November 2022 when Mr. Kumar’s rival candidate, Kuldeep Singh, was declared the winner in the polls. An Additional Civil Judge-cum-Election Tribunal in Panipat ordered a recount in April 2025. However, the Punjab and Haryana High Court set aside the Tribunal’s order in July, prompting Mr. Kumar to approach the Supreme Court.

On July 31, a three-judge Bench headed by Justice Surya Kant passed a unique order, calling for the EVMs used in all the booths during the sarpanch polls. The Bench directed the Secretary General of the Supreme Court to nominate a Registrar to recount the votes on August 6. It had asked the two candidates, their authorised agents and their lawyers to be present at the recount.

Disposing of the case on August 11, the Bench observed that since there was “prima facie no reason to doubt the report submitted by the 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 (Kumar) deserves to be declared as the elected sarpanch of gram panchayat, Buana Lakhu Village, Panipat, Haryana in the election held on November 22, 2022”.

The order directed the Election Tribunal to accept the Registrar’s report of the results of the recount as the “final and conclusive report”.