Guwahati: The Gauhati High Court on Monday issued summons to the Election Commission, BJP MP Kripanath Mallah from Karimganj parliamentary constituency in Assam and the returning officer of Karimganj in an election petition filed by Congress candidate Hafiz Rashid Ahmed Choudhury for setting aside the election of Mallah in the recently-held poll.
Hearing the petition filed under Section 80 read with Sections 80A and 81 of the Representation of People Act, 1951, challenging the election of Mallah, on Monday, Justice Sanjay Kumar Medhi ordered the issuing of summons within two days, including through the dasti service (by hand) while fixing the next date of hearing on August 19. Senior counsel K.P. Pathak represented Choudhary.
The Karimganj parliamentary constituency had seen a keen contest between Opposition Congress’ Choudhury and sitting ruling BJP MP Mallah with the latter coming up trumps by 18,360 votes. Choudhury had polled 5,26,733 to Mallah’s 5,45,093. There were 24 candidates in the fray.
Choudhury, himself a leading high court lawyer, had filed the 201-page election petition, including supporting documents, on July 17 for declaring Mallah’s election “void on the ground of commission of corrupt practices of bribery, undue influence and booth capturing by the Respondent No 1/returning candidate (Mallah), his workers, agents and supporters” and for any other relief the court deems fit.
Choudhury has alleged “large-scale rigging” on polling day (April 26) and the “mismatch” between the votes polled and the total votes counted in the petition.
The petitioner had earlier moved the Karimganj returning officer (RO) over the alleged anomalies during the election and in the counting process. Assam’s chief electoral officer Anurag Goel had on June 8 sought a report from the RO on the discrepancies flagged by Choudhury.
Choudhury had said in June that he had lodged 19 petitions with the EC seeking repoll in 32 polling stations due to alleged large-scale rigging and mismatched votes but his pleas were “not” addressed, which prompted him to move the court.
