Congress candidate demands recounting

Sanjay Puri, the Congress candidate from Janakpuri West ward in recently concluded municipal polls, lost by just 19 votes.

Sanjay Puri, the Congress candidate from Janakpuri West ward in recently concluded municipal polls, lost by just 19 votes.

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Puri has now alleged manipulation in the counting of votes and has lodged a complaint with the state election commission (SEC). He has claimed that while 19,514 votes were polled from the Janakpuri West ward, the returning officer declared the number of votes as 19,614, an excess of 100 votes. This, he alleged, had swayed the results in favour of the BJP candidate, who won the seat.

"I have written to the SEC, asking them to rectify it and to conduct a recount of votes in my ward but they are not obliging," he said.

He has now decided to move the high court on Monday for an intervention. "The SEC said the difference in numbers could be due to human error but such an explanation is not justified. The margin by which I lost is just 19," Puri said. There were 39 polling stations in ward number 117 and Puri said the error took place in booth number 27A where instead of 277 votes, 377 votes were counted.

Chief Election Commissioner Rakesh Mehta said he has received several such complaints. "If a contestant has a problem with the results, he/she will have to file a petition in the district court. If the court orders a recount, we will follow the rules," he said.