Attempt to cast bogus vote by woman at Manjeshwar during bypoll: CEO
Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 22: Chief Electoral Officer Teeka Ram Meena on Tuesday confirmed there was an attempt to cast bogus vote at Manjeshwar in Kasaragod where Assembly bypoll took place on October 21.
He said a case has been registered under various sections of Indian Penal Code.
"The incident happened at Manjeswaram. A woman named Nabeesa came there for another lady who is also named Nabeesa.
Presiding officer found out that she was not a voter of that polling booth," he said.
She was handed over to the police and a case has been registered under various sections of IPC, he told reporters.
Nabeesa was arrested for impersonation as she allegedly tried to cast bogus vote in a booth.
She was later released on bail.
The bypolls to five assembly constituencies in Kerala on Monday was marred by heavy rains, especially in Ernakulam.
Voting percentage in Ernakulam constituency was just 57.90 per cent.
Political parties blamed incessant rains for such low turnout.
Manjeshwar saw 75.78 per cent voting, whereas Aroor witnessed 80.47 per cent.
Konni in Pathanamthitta district witnessed 70.07 per cent voter turnout while it was 62.66 per cent in Vattiyoorkavu.
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Unreserved vacancies for candidates with disabilities open for all categories: SC
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Tuesday said "unreserved" vacancies for Persons with Disabilities (PWD) are an open pool where merit remains the decisive factor and that eligible candidates belonging to any social or special category can be employed.
A bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and N Kotiswar Singh set aside a judgement of the Calcutta High Court, saying the "unreserved" category is not a separate "social category" but an open field for all.
It held that a more meritorious PWD candidate belonging to a reserved category like OBC, SC, or ST cannot be barred from an unreserved PWD post simply because a candidate from the "General" category is also available.
"In reservation law, it is well settled that the Unreserved/Open category does not refer to any social/communal category like SCs, STs or OBC. In other words, any post falling under the Unreserved or Open category does not pertain to any particular social category, it provides an open field or pool meant for the world at large, in the sense that it is open to all candidates, irrespective of whether one belongs to any social or special category or not," Justice Singh, who authored the verdict, said.
The court said if an unreserved or open post is meant for the special category of Persons with Disabilities, it means that the said post will be open to all candidates of all vertical social categories, whether Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) or Other Backward Classes (OBC), provided such candidates are also PWD.
"Thus, all candidates, whether SC, ST or OBC, but who are Persons with Disabilities, are equally entitled to compete for the post meant for Persons with Disabilities falling under the Unreserved category, the rationale being that all those who are similarly situated must be treated equally," it said.
The case arose from a recruitment drive of the West Bengal State Electricity Transmission Company Limited (WBSETCL) for the post of Junior Engineer (Civil) Grade-II.
The notification included one post specifically earmarked for Unreserved (Persons with Disabilities -- Low Vision).
The controversy involved two candidates, an unreserved category candidate with low vision who scored 55.667 marks and an OBC candidate, also with low vision, who scored 66.667 marks.
The WBSETCL appointed the OBC candidate to the post based on his higher merit.
This was challenged by the general category candidate who said since he was a "qualified unreserved candidate", the vacancy should have gone to him and that reserved category candidates should only be considered if no unreserved PWD candidate is available.
While a single-judge bench of the high court dismissed the plea, a division bench reversed that decision, directing the employer to appoint the less-meritorious unreserved candidate.
The WBSETCL had then appealed to the Supreme Court.
