May 16, 2024
May 16, 2024
Staff REPORTER
ITANAGAR, Apr 29: The Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) has demanded a repoll at the 22-Dingsar and 45-Lengi polling stations in Nacho assembly constituency under Upper Subansiri district, alleging that several voters were denied the opportunity to exercise their franchise.
The Congress has also accused the returning officer (RO), presiding officers (PO) and their teams at the 22-Dingsar and 45-Lengi polling stations of violating the guidelines of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, and the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961.
The APCC has called for action against the officials and a repoll at both the polling stations.
Addressing a news briefing at the Press Club here, APCC vice-president, Toko Mina, said the repoll conducted at 45-Lengi and 22-Dingsa polling stations on April 24 witnessed
violations of the election process guidelines”.
Mina alleged that only 185 out of 319 voters were allowed to cast their votes at the 22-Dingsar polling station while the voting process was halted due to irregularities in the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM), which showed 235 voters while only 185 were recorded in the register. “Technicians revealed that the polling team had not erased the data of a mock poll, leading to incorrect figures. As the RO and PO verbally assured to conduct a repoll, the voting process was halted and the voters were asked to return home,” she said.
Mina also highlighted issues at the 45-Lengi polling station, where INC polling agents were allegedly not allowed to note down the EVM and VVPAT serial numbers.
She claimed that the rights of polling agents were denied, indicating a compromised voting process.
Mina further alleged that the district election officer allowed double voting, where voters previously disallowed to vote were permitted to cast their votes, leading to electoral offenses. The APCC has submitted the voter lists to the Election Commission for verification.
The APCC has called for immediate repolls and threatened to launch a democratic movement if the same does not happen.
The Election Commission had ordered repolling in eight polling stations in Arunachal Pradesh including Dingsar and Lengi where EVM damage and violence were reported during polling to simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly polls on April 19.
