The EC has announced the decision to conduct re-polling in Prithala constituency after the polling officer was arrested for influencing voters to vote for a distinct party.
Priyanka Yadav | The New Leam
Election Commission of India (ECI) has ordered for re-polling at a polling booth in Faridabad after the polling officer was arrested for influencing the voters of Prithala constituency.
The ECI announced re-polling on Monday, 13th May 2019, after a video of the polling officer at a polling booth in Asawati village in Prithala constituency was found influencing the voter.
The incident occurred on 12th May 2019 during the sixth phase of election in Faridabad. The video that went viral clearly showed the man (polling officer) influencing three women voters of the village.
It was seen in the video that the polling officer repeated the activity not once but thrice with three women voter. The man was seen getting up from his seat when the Muslim women entered the polling booth. The man then accompanied the women towards the EVM machine and directed them to press the button.
After the incident came to light the District Election officer took to twitter to show his concern and tweeted “Prompt action taken. FIR lodged. Person behind bars. Observer enquired the matter personally and is satisfied that polling was never vitiated.”
After the video went viral the polling officer Giriraj Singh was arrested. An FIR was lodged under Indian Penal Code sections 171 C (undue influence at elections) and 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by a public servant) and section 135 of Representation of People’s Act 1950 against the Mr. Singh.
Earlier the Election Commission denied that any tampering of votes took place. But after careful observation and inquiry it was found that the man allegedly a BJP supporter influenced the three women voters. The Election Commission ordered for re polling due to violation of secrecy and further stated “On enquiry by the observer, the complaint was found to be true. Commission has therefore ordered a fresh poll at this polling station on May 12th 2019.”
The presiding officer at the polling booth, Amit Atri is also under scanner as the election commission suspects his involvement in the case too. The election commission stated “The presiding officer Amit Atri has been placed under suspension for the dereliction of duty and criminal action is also being initiated against the presiding officer. Micro observer Sonal Gulati has not reported the incident correctly for which the commission has barred her also from any election related work for three years.”
Harayana was one of the seven states which went for polling in the sixth phase of Lok Sabha Election 2019. As per reports the voter turnout in Faridabad for the sixth phase was 64.48 percent.
Harayana went for polls for 10 seats in the state; the other six states which went for polls were Bihar (eight seats), Delhi (seven seats), Jharkhand (four seats), Madhya Pradesh (eight seats), Uttar Pradesh (Fourteen seats), and West Bengal (eight seats).
The results of the Lok Sabha elections will be announced by 23rd May 2019. As of now re-polling will take place at Asawati village in Prithala constituency, as ordered by the Election Commission of India.
