NCP (SP) seeks re-poll in Parli tehsil over alleged bogus voting

NCP demands repolling in Beed, CCTV footage in Baramati, action against PDCCB for booth capturing and fake passbooks in recent elections.

Mumbai: The Sharad Pawar-led NCP on Friday demanded repolling in Parli tehsil of Beed constituency where they alleged booth capturing at several places by workers of the ruling party candidate, BJP’s Pankaja Munde who is contesting against NCP (SP) candidate Bajrang Sonawane. NCP (SP) said that they have been following up the issue with the returning officer and the election commission since May 13, the day of polling, but have not received any favorable order yet.

The Sharad Pawar-led NCP on Friday demanded repolling in Parli tehsil of Beed constituency. (Pic for representation)

NCP (SP) sought CCTV footage of a strongroom at Baramati Lok Sabha constituency where the video recording facility was stopped for 45 minutes. It also demanded action against Pune District Central Cooperative Bank (PDCCB) for allegedly distributing fake passbooks to facilitate bogus voting.

“On May 13, widespread booth capturing incidents took place in Parli tehsil. There are videos in which people can be seen indulging in bogus voting. The booths were captured by them from 2pm onwards. We did not receive any response even after filing numerous complaints,” said advocate Pranjal Agarwal on behalf of NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar on Friday, adding the EC has not yet responded to their demand for repolling made next day.

“The returning officer allowed us to watch the CCTV footage of the Baramati strongroom but is not sharing a copy which we want for a digital forensic audit necessary in the era of deep fake,” the advocate emphasized.

He said the EC has given a favorable order but the returning officer has not shared the copy.

The NCP (SP) advocate said that the Pune police have filed a FIR which itself states that according to the CCTV footage of the Pune District Central Cooperative Bank (PDCCB), the bank was found to be open till 3am. Some 40 to 50 people were seen entering the director’s cabin at around 1am and coming out with cash. “It is a case of two types of frauds. One is impersonation by issuing fake passbooks and second, bribery by disbursing cash. In this case as well, the returning officer has not shared the copy of the footage, despite an order issued by the poll body,” he commented.

The NCP (SP) also objected to the election commission’s affidavit in which the poll body stated that full disclosure to the public about actual voting would allow mischief and can impact the counting. The affidavit was filed in response to a petition filed seeking reason for not sharing form 17C with the candidates, which is a proof that on each booth how many votes were polled. “With transparency being the cornerstone of a healthy democracy, how can the right of citizens for transparency be curtailed in the name of digital security measures,” advocate Pranjal asked and appealed to the commission to reconsider its affidavit.