New Delhi, June 10 (Representative) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday alleged gross violation of voting procedure in Rajya Sabha elections in Haryana and Maharashtra, and urged the Election Commission to declare it null and void. However, Congress denied the BJP’s allegation of any violation during the election process. A delegation of senior BJP leaders, including Mukthar Abbas Naqvi, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Arjun Ram Meghwal and Jitendra Singh filed a complaint with the Chief Election Commissioner, alleging violation in voting procedure. Talking to reporters outside the Commission after submitting the complaint, Naqvi said, “We apprised the EC about gross violation of voting procedure in Haryana and Maharashtra. We requested to stop the voting process in both the states.
“There are some voters, who are violating the secrecy law of election, which is not good for the democratic process in the country. Therefore, we are demanding the cancellation of voting. “In view of the foregoing, we request the Commission to enquire into the matter and cancel the votes that had violated the provisions of conduct of election rules,” said the complaint letter. “BB Batra and Kiran Choudhry, MLAs of Indian National Congress and voters in this election, compromised and vitiated the voting procedure by openly displaying their ballot papers to persons other than their own party election agent,” BJP alleged in the letter. It further read, “Objections were filed with the Returning Officer by the BJP election agent and other party agents. The RO, without even considering the facts presented or examining the conduct of election rules 1961 or consulting the ECI observers present on the spot, allowed the votes as legal.” Meanwhile, a Congress delegation comprising Pawan Bansal, Vivek Tankha and Ranjeet Ranjan also met the poll panel and refuted the BJP’s allegation of any violation of voting procedure.
“The EC must start the voting process immediately because there is no evidence of any violation of voting procedure,” Tankha told reporters. He claimed that the report presented by the Returning Officer and the Observer clearly stated that there was no violation of election procedure. “We are confident that the poll panel will look into the matter as per the established law,” the Congress leader said. Apprising about their meeting, Ranjan said, “We went to the EC as per law and put all facts before it . So, we are confident that the EC will take decision as per law.” Biennial elections to 57 Rajya Sabha seats were announced recently. Out of this, 41 candidates in Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Telangana, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand were declared elected unopposed on June 4.