GUWAHATI: The Gauhati high court on Monday issued summons to the Election Commission, BJP MP from Assam’s Krimganj Kripanath Mallah, and the returning officer of Karimganj over alleged irregularities during the recently held Lok Sabha polls.
Justice Sanjay Kumar Medhi issued summons based on an election petition filed by Hafiz Rashid Ahmed Choudhury, the Congress candidate from the seat, for alleged irregularities committed by Mallah during campaigning and on the day of polling.
The Karimganj parliamentary constituency had witnessed a keen contest between Opposition Congress’ Hafiz Rashid Ahmed Choudhury and sitting ruling BJP MP Mallah with the latter coming up trumps by 18,360 votes. Choudhury had polled 5,26,733 to Mallah’s 5,45,093. There were 24 candidates in the fray.
In his petition, Choudhury alleged that Mallah had indulged in rigging, booth capturing, and bribery, and sought his election to be declared null and void.
The petition also alleged that booth capturing took place in 47 polling stations, which constituted almost double the number of votes than the margin of victory between Mallah and Choudhury.
The petition stated, “After polling got over in Karimganj, EC stated that total voter turnout in the seat was 11,36,538, which after adding postal ballots totaled to 11,43,796. But on the date of counting, the total number of votes counted in the seat was 11,47,607—an additional 3,811 votes were counted.”
Hearing the petition filed under Section 80 read with Sections 80A and 81 of the Representation of People Act, 1951, challenging the election of Mallah, on Monday, Justice Sanjay Kumar Medhi ordered the issuing of summons within two days, including through the dasti service (by hand) while fixing the next date of hearing on August 19.
To decide the case in a time-bound manner, the high court issued summons to Mallah, the returning officer and the EC.
The next date of hearing in the case has been fixed on August 19.
Choudhury had said in June that he had lodged 19 petitions with the EC seeking repoll in 32 polling stations due to alleged large-scale rigging and mismatched votes but his pleas were “not” addressed, which prompted him to move the court.
