Chennai: The Election Commission on Sunday ordered re-poll in one of the booths in R.K. Nagar constituency after the EC observer reported that the presiding officer allowed some voters who were not duly enrolled in the electoral roll. The bypoll to the R.K. Nagar Assembly seat gains significance as AIADMK supremo and chief minister Jayalalithaa is seeking re-election.
According to an official release from Chief Electoral Officer, Sandeep Saxena, the re-poll would be held in the polling station number 181 on Monday following the election observer’s report against the presiding officer of the booth.
“The Election Commission of India has directed that poll taken on June 27 at the polling station No. 181 has been vitiated within the meaning of section 58(1)(b) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951,” he said, adding that a fresh poll would be conducted at the polling station on June 29 between 8 am and 5 pm.
“A new EVM would be used and indelible ink would be applied in the left middle finger of the voters,” he said. It is interesting that CPI’s R.K. Nagar constituency candidate C. Mahendran had written to the EC seeking re-poll in as many as 22 polling booths alleging booth capturing and large scale bogus voting. The by-election on Saturday witnessed a record 74.4 per cent turnout of voters in the constituency with 2.43 lakh registered voters.
