Supreme Court says no fresh elections. What happens next in Chandigarh mayoral polls?

livemint.com:

Chandigarh Mayoral Election leading to a political and legal fight between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have to be produced in the Supreme Court February 20. The votes already cast will be counted by disregarding the marks which were made on them by the previous Presiding Officer Anil Masih, as per SC directives. Basically there won't be any fresh election to settle the dispute over the outcome of the results of election held on January 30.

BJP's Manoj Sonkar was elected Mayor with a four-vote margin after eight ballots by AAP councillors were declared invalid. Sonkar, however, resigned as Mayor ahead of February 19 SC hearing. The Court has asked the Deputy Commissioner of the Chandigarh Administration to nominate an officer, not aligned with any political parties, to be the new returning officer to count the ballots and declare the results.

The Court said that the counting process will be judicially overseen by a judicial officer nominated by the Punjab High Court. "The process shall be taken to the logical conclusion from the stage it stopped before the declaration of results...", Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said as reported by legal news website LiveLaw. "Let the results be declared disregarding any mark put by the (original) Returning Officer (Anil Masih).

Let the process be overseen judicially by the (Punjab and Haryana) High Court," the CJI said. The SC directives would mean a blow to the BJP, the party that would have been in a strong position in case a fresh poll was ordered. Even as the saffron party was shot of majority on the original poll day on January 30, but three AAP councilors - Poonam Devi, Neha, and Gurcharan Kala - joining the BJP on the day of SC hearing