Uttarakhand High Court Orders Submission of Election Guidelines Amid Vote Tampering Allegations

Court Directs Submission of Election Commission Guidelines

On Tuesday, the Uttarakhand High Court addressed a case concerning alleged tampering of a ballot during the counting for the positions of chairperson and vice-chairperson of the Nainital district panchayat. The court instructed the district magistrate of Nainital to present the Election Commission's booklet titled 'District Panchayat Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson Election and Dispute Resolution Rules, 1994' by August 27.

The bench, comprising Chief Justice G. Narendra and Justice Subhash Upadhyay, issued this directive while hearing a petition related to the alleged tampering or overwriting of a ballot during the counting that took place on August 14.

During the proceedings, the court proposed that the disputed issues raised in the petition should be referred to the Election Commission for a decision. However, the petitioner's lawyer contended that the commission was also directly or indirectly implicated in the matter.

The lawyer argued that even if no complaint was formally submitted to the commission, it should have taken cognizance of the fact that five district panchayat members did not cast their votes.

Poonam Bisht, a district panchayat member, filed a petition in the High Court seeking a re-election for the chairperson and vice-chairperson positions. The petition alleged that tampering occurred on one ballot, where the number written next to a candidate's name was altered from one to two, rendering that vote invalid and affecting the election outcome.

In the elections held on August 14, 27 district panchayat members were eligible to vote. Out of these, 22 members cast their votes, while a police report was filed regarding the abduction of five members at the Tallital police station. However, these five members later released a video confirming their safety and subsequently filed an affidavit stating that they chose not to vote voluntarily.