After ABVP win, DU told to secure EVMs
New Delhi, Sep 17 : The Delhi High Court on Monday directed Delhi University's Chief Electoral Officer to secure the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) used in DUSU elections till the next date of hearing and issued notices to the Centre, the university and others.
"The Chief Electoral Officer, appointed by University of Delhi to conduct elections of the DUSU elections, is directed to ensure that the EVMs, utilised for the conduct of the polling and counting of votes, along with all paper trail/documentation are kept in a secured place under his lock and key, till the next date of hearing," Justice Siddharth Mridul said.
The court asked the Central government, Delhi University, its Chief Electoral Officer, the Election Commission and the three victorious Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) candidates to file their replies within three weeks and fixed October 29 for hearing.
The court was hearing a plea by the National Students Union of India (NSUI) candidates Sunny Chhillar, Leena and Saurabh Yadav who challenged the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) election results declared on Thursday.
The plea sought quashing of election results as unconstitutional, arbitrary and illegal and sought fresh polls through ballot papers.
The RSS-affiliated ABVP won three of the four top DUSU seats. ABVP candidate Ankiv Basoya was elected the DUSU President while Shakti Singh and Jyoti Chaudhary were elected the Vice President and as Joint Secretary respectively.
NSUI's Akash Chaudhary defeated ABVP's Sudhir Dedha to win the Secretary's post.
The petitioner has alleged that that they were aggrieved by the arbitrary, corrupt and unfair election conducted by the university as out of 126 EVMs used, seven went missing and the same was reported to the authorities.
They alleged that Chillar was leading his opponent by 4,200 votes by noon but all of a sudden they stopped the counting on the ground of EVM malfunctioning and resumed counting after 5-6 hours. The entire process was marred by tampering of EVMs, the plea said.
The plea alleged that EVMs were tampered with and questioned as to how "privately procured" EVMs could have been used in the polls held on September 12.
Countering NSUI's submission, Central government standing counsel Anil Soni said the same EVMs were used in the DUSU elections held in 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2017 but no objections were raised that time.
The NSUI candidates alleged that the elections were conducted in an "arbitrary, corrupt and unfair" manner by the university and DU was acting under extraneous pressure.
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“Full prepared..going to win,” Congress MP KC Venugopal ahead of Kerala polls
EC not functioning as a neutral institution: Venugopal
Congress MP K. C. Venugopal on Monday raised concerns over the election schedule announced by the Election Commission of India for the upcoming Kerala Assembly election, questioning the timing of the poll dates and alleging that the schedule leaves limited time for campaigning.
Speaking to news agency ANI in Delhi after the poll panel announced elections in five states and Union Territories, Venugopal said that the Congress and the United Democratic Front (UDF) are fully prepared for the elections and confident of victory. At the same time, he questioned the pattern of dates announced by the Election Commission.
“We are fully prepared, we are going to win the elections... You can see how the Election Commission has set the dates. The first phase of elections is on the 9th, nominations are due until the 23rd, scrutiny is on the 24th, nominations can be withdrawn until the 26th, and after that, there are 11 days for campaigning,” he said.
“As for Kerala, there is Easter and Good Friday in the first week...The Election Commission could have announced the dates earlier... The counting date is on May 4th, so what was the point of holding elections in Kerala so early? What is their intention behind holding elections on the same day in Kerala, Puducherry, and Assam?... We are confident that we will win, but the people of the country are seeing the biased attitude of the Election Commission...,” he added.
He further stated that his party was ready for elections irrespective of the dates announced by the poll body.
“We are going to win the election. India's strategy has been set up. And we are all ready for winning this election. But one thing as far as declaring election, even though they are giving only for five days, we are going to win the election. We have no problem,” he said.
Detailing the poll schedule while questioning the time available for campaigning, he stated, “but you can see the pattern of date which the election commission announced. Yesterday they declared election, and today they notified us. The first phase of election on April 9th, filing of nomination will be over on the 23rd of this month, 24th scrutiny, 26th withdrawal of nomination. After 26, four plus seven, 11 days campaign.”
“As far as Kerala is concerned, April first week is a holy week. The holiday week means, Good Friday is there. Nobody will do anything on Good Friday. Easter is the big festival. These festivals are natural, you have to see that. Among the 11 days, working days, two, three days will go for holidays. Then hardly seven, eight days for campaigning in this election for candidates,” the Congress MP questioned.
The Congress leader said the Election Commission could have announced the dates earlier if there was a need for an early election schedule.
Questioning the urgency behind placing Kerala in the first phase of polling, he added that the counting date is much later.
“Which is the date of counting? Fourth May. Then what is the urgency of putting Kerala in the first phase without giving sufficient time for candidates? And putting Kerala, Puducherry, Assam together, what is the intention behind that?” Venugopal questioned.
He also alleged that the Election Commission was not functioning as a neutral institution.
“The Election commission is completely losing that capacity as a neutral player. You can see 14 of our prime minister's programs over and on the 15th they announce the election, 16th notification comes,” he said.
Venugopal further stated that such tactics would not affect the Congress’ prospects in the election.
“They think that this type of techniques and tactics, because of these techniques and tactics, UDF is going to lose, and Congress is going to lose. This is their complete dream only. This is not going to happen. We are very much confident at any cost, whether they are not giving any time also, we are going to win the election,” he said.
“But the people of India are watching this. The tricks of the election commission. To restrict the campaign, people of India are watching. This I want to bring into the notice of the nation. That's all,” Venugopal said.
The Election Commission of India on Sunday announced the schedule for the Kerala Assembly election. Polling in the state will be held in a single phase on April 9 while the counting of votes is scheduled to take place on May 4.
