Haryana is all set to have the dubious distinction of being the first state in the country to have an FIR registered in Rajya Sabha elections. The Election Commission of India has asked the state's chief electoral officer (CEO) to register an FIR on the basis of a complaint by noted lawyer R K Anand who had had lost to media mogul Subhash Chandra in the polls in June. The recommendation was made after the commission found evidence to back the allegation that an unauthorized pen was used during voting that led to a large number of Congress votes being cancelled.
The commission has also recommended disciplinary action against R K Nandal, secretary of the Haryana assembly , for lack of supervisory control and negligence. He was the returning officer (RO) for the polls. Haryana's CEO Anukur Gupta has submitted a complaint to the Sector 3 police station in Chandigarh. SHO Poonam Dilawari said that the FIR would be registered by Thursday evening. Nandal has also been indicted for concealing material facts related to the authorized pen not being used.
Although the commission had sent its findings to the CEO and chief secretary of Haryana on September 9, the documents were released on Wednesday by Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leader Abhay Chautala. Anand was an independent backed by INLD and BJP had backed Chandra.
The commission wants the FIR to include various sections of the Representation of People Act related to electoral offences besides criminal conspiracy , interference in the election process, theft, cheating, mischief and forgery . The case will be filed against persons on election duty or whose conduct resulted in the votes being cancelled.
Indicting Nandal, the commission observed that he was in charge of election related activities inside the polling station and that there was serious lack of supervisory control and negligence as an unauthorized pen was used for marking ballot papers. “It assumes serious proportions if seen with the fact that 12 ballot papers had been rejected on the ground of voting preferences marked with a pen other than the officially supplied,“ the commission has said. In all 14 Congress votes were declared invalid.
Anand, said that as the commission had prima facie found criminality in the official pen being removed from the polling area in an effort to sabotage the election.
Despite having the support of 35 MLAs, Anand lost to Subhash Chandra after 14 votes of the Congress were declared invalid. Votes of 12 Congress MLAs were cancelled because the legislators had not used a pen prescribed by the Election Commission.Another vote was cancelled after he exposed his it to the Congress legislative party chief while one was declared invalid as it was left blank.In the end Anand got 21 valid votes while Subhash Chandra got 29 and was declared elected.
On June 11, the day of polling, the RO tied the sketch pen in the voting compartment with a string instead of handing it over individually to the MLAs. BJP's Panipat MLA Rohita Rewri came to cast her vote at serial number 7 and inadvertently took along another pen
The commission has also recommended disciplinary action against R K Nandal, secretary of the Haryana assembly , for lack of supervisory control and negligence. He was the returning officer (RO) for the polls. Haryana's CEO Anukur Gupta has submitted a complaint to the Sector 3 police station in Chandigarh. SHO Poonam Dilawari said that the FIR would be registered by Thursday evening. Nandal has also been indicted for concealing material facts related to the authorized pen not being used.
Although the commission had sent its findings to the CEO and chief secretary of Haryana on September 9, the documents were released on Wednesday by Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leader Abhay Chautala. Anand was an independent backed by INLD and BJP had backed Chandra.
The commission wants the FIR to include various sections of the Representation of People Act related to electoral offences besides criminal conspiracy , interference in the election process, theft, cheating, mischief and forgery . The case will be filed against persons on election duty or whose conduct resulted in the votes being cancelled.
Indicting Nandal, the commission observed that he was in charge of election related activities inside the polling station and that there was serious lack of supervisory control and negligence as an unauthorized pen was used for marking ballot papers. “It assumes serious proportions if seen with the fact that 12 ballot papers had been rejected on the ground of voting preferences marked with a pen other than the officially supplied,“ the commission has said. In all 14 Congress votes were declared invalid.
Anand, said that as the commission had prima facie found criminality in the official pen being removed from the polling area in an effort to sabotage the election.
Despite having the support of 35 MLAs, Anand lost to Subhash Chandra after 14 votes of the Congress were declared invalid. Votes of 12 Congress MLAs were cancelled because the legislators had not used a pen prescribed by the Election Commission.Another vote was cancelled after he exposed his it to the Congress legislative party chief while one was declared invalid as it was left blank.In the end Anand got 21 valid votes while Subhash Chandra got 29 and was declared elected.
On June 11, the day of polling, the RO tied the sketch pen in the voting compartment with a string instead of handing it over individually to the MLAs. BJP's Panipat MLA Rohita Rewri came to cast her vote at serial number 7 and inadvertently took along another pen
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