The Returning officer of 1-Tripura West Parliamentary Constituency after conducting the enquiry with respect to received complaints which were also published in a few Newspapers regarding the mismatch of polled votes in four polling booths during the Lok Sabha election in 1-West Tripura Parliamentary Constituency held on 19.4.2024 intimated that there exists no discrepancy and no subversion of the election process was made.
On the basis of the received reports from ARO of all the four concerned polling booths Returning Officer intimated that the referred mismatch is because of the EDC (Election Duty Certificate) votes polled in these polling stations. The location of these polling stations is nearby the ARO headquarter or dispersal centre or strong rooms. In addition, many reserved polling personnel were deployed in nearby areas.
Hence, these people cast their votes in these polling stations through election duty certificate on the election date.
In the ENCORE application, the total electors have been taken as per the Electoral Roll i.e. total electors in the polling station. EDC is not added to the total column in ENCORE. However, the EDC vote is added to the total vote cast. Hence, the % of votes cast has exceeded 100% in a few polling stations.
Concerning Part No. 44 of 10-Majlishpur Assembly of 1-West Tripura PC, he stated that in the concerned polling Station total assigned voters were 545 and out of such assigned voters 498 cast votes which constitutes 91.37% of assigned voters. Further, 68 voters pertaining to other Assembly segments cast their vote in the said Polling Station with EDCs. As a result total cast votes including EDCs stands as 566 and became 103.85%
10/44- Birendranagar H S School being the nearest polling station from the ARO Headquarter, most of the reserve polling personnel and officials of ARO office on election duty preferred to franchise their voting right from there only. Hence, the high number of EDC Votes was seen.
For Part No. 44 of 5- Khayerpur Assembly of 1-West Tripura PC, Returning Officer stated that in the concerned polling Station total voters were 1290 and 1053 casted votes. Further, 07 voters pertaining to other Assembly segments cast their vote in the said Polling Station with EDCs. As a result total casted votes including EDCs stands as 1060 i.e. 82.17%
Concerning Part No. 25 of 5- Khayerpur Assembly of 1-West Tripura PC, Returning Officer stated that in the concerned polling Station total voters were 840 and 734 casted votes. Further, 05 voters pertaining to other Assembly segments cast their vote in the said Polling Station with EDCs. As a result total cast votes including EDCs stands as 739 i.e. 87.97%.
In regard to Part No. 38 of 2- Mohanpur Assembly of 1-West Tripura PC, Returning Officer stated that the said polling station 2/38 (Fakiramura JB School, South Wing) is situated in proximity of Swami Vivekananda Mahavidyalaya, which is a dispersal centre as well as strong room of EVMs for all 3(three) Assembly Segments under Mohanpur Sub- Division.
On the day of the poll, all reserved polling personnel including staff deployed in the strong room and ARO officials have cast their vote through EDC in this polling station and due to this, the percentage has gone to 108.84%. In the concerned polling Station total voters were 452 and 429 casted votes. Further, 63 voters pertaining to other Assembly segments cast their vote in the said Polling Station with EDCs. As a result, total cast votes including EDCs stands as 492 i.e. 108.84 %
Returning Officer added that In ENCORE, the total elector is the original number of electors in the polling station, EDC is not included. However, in the indicated number of cast votes, EDCs have been included.
These polling stations were also scrutinized during the day of scrutiny on 20/04/2024 at 11.00 AM in the conference Hall of DM & Collector West Tripura in the presence of the General Observer and representatives of all political parties.
It was seen that the high voting percentage was because of the high number of EDC voters in the respective polling stations. However, the number was not included in the total electors list for the polling station in ENCORE. Hence, there has been no vitiation in the process and the elections were held as per due process of law.
(Tripura, Tripura News)
