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On a day when the counting of votes in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) Election was set to begin, the Telangana High Court on Friday, 4 December came out with a crucial ruling.
The High Court suspended the State Election Commission’s (SEC) order that was released on Thursday evening, stating that any ballot will be considered valid as long as ‘the intention of the vote is clear on marking to a particular candidate’.
The GHMC polls, that were held on 1 December, saw the use of paper ballots instead of the Electronic Voter Machine (EVM), owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In view of the differences in the paper ballots, the SEC on Thursday issued a clarification stating that all ballots where the voter’s preference is clearly indicated will be treated as valid.
This order was challenged by the BJP and the Telangana High Court on Friday morning suspended the State Election Commission’s order. The High Court allowed the SEC to go ahead with counting and to declare results in wards where the ‘distinguish mark’ ballots were less in results. It, however, barred the Election Commission from declaring results in wards where the above ballots are more in number, thereby impacting the final results. The High Court has posted the matter for Monday.
Anthony Reddy, the advocate who filed the petition, said, "The High Court suspended the SEC order because the SEC did not mention details about in how many polling booths this discrepancy might have happened and in which polling station. The court also asked the SEC to hold the announcement of the result in wards where the discrepancies can impact the final results.”
Soon after the circular was released on Thursday, Telangana BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar addressed a press conference online, where he alleged that the circular was a sign that the State Election Commission was acting on the behest of the ruling TRS party to spin the results of the election in its favour. He also alleged that the TRS and AIMIM together had indulged in booth capturing, and stated that the BJP would take legal means to fight them, and take to the streets if necessary.
Meanwhile, the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) Election Commission Coordination Committee’s Convenor G Niranjan demanded that the counting process be stopped immediately.
Polling in 149 of the 150 wards under GHMC took place on Tuesday, while repolling was conducted in Old Malakpet division alone on Thursday due to discrepancies in party symbols on the ballot papers.
(The story has been published in a arrangement with The News Minute.)
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