Facing the prospect of being prosecuted for unlawfully invalidating eight AAP votes to rig the elections in favor of a BJP candidate in the Chandigarh mayor election, the polling officer, Anil Masih, has tendered an unconditional apology to the Supreme Court. Masih’s lawyer, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, stated that his client is surrendering to the court’s magnanimity and seeking reprieve from prosecution. However, AAP’s senior advocate A M Singhvi strongly opposed the apology, arguing that it is easy to apologize after defiantly breaching the SC order and polluting free and fair elections. The court has adjourned the hearing to next week. The Supreme Court had earlier declared AAP’s Kuldeep Kumar as the mayor of Chandigarh and invalidated the election of BJP’s Manoj Sonkar due to the unlawful invalidation of eight AAP votes. Masih, a nominated BJP member of the civic body, is now facing prosecution. He also stated that he would withdraw his previous affidavit in which he denied allegations of tampering with ballots and claimed to be suffering from depression and anxiety. The court had issued a notice to Masih to show cause as to why proceedings should not be initiated against him for allegedly making false statements before the court.