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Parties demand re-election
DECLARATION OF two contrary results in terms of votes in the mayoral election by the district administration has brought the ruling Samajwadi Party and the administration on a collision course. The SP leaders have decided to challenge the result in the court and also demanded stringent action against the returning officer and guilty officials for derelictions of duty.
DECLARATION OF two contrary results in terms of votes in the mayoral election by the district administration has brought the ruling Samajwadi Party and the administration on a collision course. The SP leaders have decided to challenge the result in the court and also demanded stringent action against the returning officer and guilty officials for derelictions of duty.
Leveling serious charges against the administration, the SP districzt unit president Chandrabali Yadav said missing of 33,000 votes was a serious matter and those involved should be punished. He said after making the serious fault, the administration deliberately delayed issuing certificates and detailed election results.
Talking to Hindustan Times, Yadav said that he had discussed the issue with Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav and also sent a detailed report to the State Election Commission demanding recounting of votes or canceling of the election of mayor. He further said that the party would file a case in the court to get relief.
Meanwhile, the Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party also jumped into the controversy and mounted pressure on the administration. They also demanded recounting of votes and canceling the oath ceremony. Congress candidate for the mayor post, Ramesh Gupta and the BSP-supported candidate Chhedi Jaiswal criticised the administration and demanded cancellation of the election result of the Gorakhpur Municipal Corporation.
Jaiswal also blamed the administration for being convenience to saffron forces and said that the missing votes belonged to the BSP. He said the administration had hatched the conspiracy to demoralize the party, which was exposed.
It is worthy to note that the SP leaders have also gheraoed the ADM's residence for more than six hours and later in the night, the administration issued the second copy of detailed result to the ruling SP leaders. According to which, the BJP candidate got 1,33,391 votes while SP got 74,285 votes.
The district administration has admitted their fault in the counting of votes and terming it a human error, they said that the result were not fed up in the computer, therefore, huge gap between counted poll and counted votes was come into light.
The administration has also sent a report to the Election Commission regarding the form and according to the final result, total votes were polled 2,73,233 of which 9,235 votes were invalid and the minimum increase in the votes of all the candidates was found.
However, district unit president of the SP said, “We couldn't believe that the percentage of votes of the candidates was same in missing votes. Beside, the missing votes were not counted in the presence of party agents and the administration counted it and issued the result which has raised doubt over the impartiality of the administration in the election.”
