Defeated Cong candidate demands repolling in Karimganj, to file election petition in HC

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaJune 10, 2024

Defeated Congress candidate from Karimganj constituency, Hafiz Rashid Ahmed Choudhury on Monday demanded a fresh election in 7 Karimganj Lok Sabha constituency keeping the election of BJP candidate Kripanath Mallah in abeyance.

Addressing a press conference at Rajiv Bhawan here, Choudhury said he will file an election petition in the Gauhati High Court against the Election Commission of India (ECI) challenging the election of the BJP candidate Kripanath Mallah from the constituency.

Mallah emerged victorious with 5,45093 votes securing a margin of 18,360 votes over his nearest rival Hafiz Rashid Ahmed Choudhury who obtained 5,26,733 votes. AIUDF candidate Sahabul Islam Choudhury finished a distant third with 29,205 votes.

“I do not want to speak on the counting process. But on the day of polling on April 26, there have been widespread anomalies like multiple vote casting, and booth capturing, threatening voters not to cast votes in my favour. I have notified it the ECI and acknowledgement was received as well. However, nothing was done and offenders and violators belonging to the BJP carried out the illegal activities without any check and neither the district administration nor the police authorities took any action to curb the rigging and forceful derailment of the voting process,” Choudhury said.

Choudhury submitted a formal letter to the returning officer of the 7-Karimganj constituency in this regard on Sunday.

According to the data of the ECI as of May 25, the total number of votes polled in the constituency was 11,36,536. On the day of counting, 7,258 postal ballots were taken into consideration and the total number of voters has gone upto 11,43,796. Of 7,258 postal ballots 725 votes were rejected and 89 were cast as NOTA. Therefore with a total of 6,444 valid postal votes, the total number of voters should be 11,43,76< Choudhury also said.

“But this number was not reflected in the counting. After the counting process over, the total votes cast was 11,47,607 from which it was revealed that there was 3,811 excess votes were polled in the constituency. The matter was brought to the notice of the returning officer who assured me to look into it, but nothing was done,” Choudhury further said.

Choudhury alleged that the returning officer hurriedly issued the winning certificate to the BJP candidate from which it was believed that the returning officer was along in collusion with the BJP to favour their candidate.

Choudhury said during counting in North Karimganj assembly segment, EVM control unit did not properly display the actual number of votes cast in the constituency for which there was an abnormal declaration of votes against the Congress candidate and the control unit ignored the requests of counting agents and the officers engaged on counting duty showed a biased attitude towards them.

“A great number of votes which had been cast in my favour has been wrongly shown to have been cast in favour of the BJP candidate making a mockery to the free and fair election process,” he said.

“Therefore I request the ECI to order repolling in Karimganj constituency failing which the mandate given by the general voters would be frustrated. I also requested the ECI to keep in abeyance the winning certificate given to the BJP candidate Kripanath Mallah,” he also said.

“I have lodged complaints before the ECI for 19th times. I alleged that there was rigging in 32 polling stations in the constituency. But no action was initiated from the ECI,” he said.

“Congress party has no MLA in the constituency. 2 AIUDF MLAs are working for BJP. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma visited the constituency five times before the elections. They worked in unison to defeat me. They also threatened the people to bulldoze them if they did not vote for the BJP. A case has been pending for disposal in the civil court in this regard. But I got immense support from the public. This election was held between the BJP and the public,” he also said.

“I also requested the ECI to ask BJP candidate Kripanath Mallah not to use the winning certificate as proof of election from the Karimganj constituency. The winning certificate should be kept in abeyance and the BJP candidate should also be directed not to use the winning certificate as a declaration of his success in the election,” he added.