Congress alleges malpractice in the Madhya Pradesh election and wants action taken against the Balaghat collector
The Balaghat collector is suspected of stealing postal votes from the strong room and engaging in other irregularities. The Congress has sent a statement to the chief election officer of Madhya Pradesh requesting action against the collector.
Anupam Rajan, the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), refuted the accusations on Monday and said that local Congress leaders were pleased with the process.
Madhya Pradesh conducted assembly elections on November 17; results will be announced on December 3.
“In the presence of approved agents from the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party, the service votes (postal ballots) were being separated into assemblies. Rajan told PTI, “These were kept in the boxes intended for them.”
In the presence of authorized agents, 429 service votes from Baihar, 553 from Lanjhi, 452 from Paraswada, 1,308 from Balaghat, 391 from Waraseoni, and 126 from Katangi were separated, according to him.
The party’s election affairs vice president, Congress vice president JP Dhanopia, said in a note that postal votes were removed from the treasury room and given to employees to handle anyway they pleased.
Dhanopia said that as a result, the integrity of their (postal ballots) is now in doubt and demanded that Balaghat Collector Girish Chandra Mishra and all other staff members involved in the procedure be suspended.
The strong room, established at the local tehsil office, was opened in the presence of authorized polling agents of the parties to separate the arriving postal votes, according to Mishra, who made this announcement on behalf of the collectorate’s public relations department.
According to the procedure, votes received from different districts via the Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETBPS) are sorted assembly-wise each day at 3 p.m., after the opening of the strong room, he added.
He was cited as stating that the votes are then meticulously arranged in bundles in accordance with the Election Commission’s guidelines.
According to the statement, someone recorded the procedure and shared it online to create confusion.
According to the statement, willful disobedience of an order properly issued by a public official with the authority to do so would result in action under section 188 of the Indian Penal Code.
As a result of his carelessness in handling the procedure, divisional commissioner Himmat Singh, the nodal officer, was suspended on Monday night, according to an official.
Shafkat Khan, the president of the Congress city unit, stated in a video statement that the problem was caused by some miscommunication and that, after an explanation and clarification from the poll officials, his party was happy with the procedure.
A letter detailing the whole procedure of separating postal votes was signed by poll agents from the Congress and other parties, and it was sent in to the election authorities.
