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Rejection of vote kicks up row
Both candidates for MC chief’s post end up with 16 votes each
Sonepat, July 7
The rejection of the vote of a councillor during the counting of votes for the election to the post of chairperson of the Sonepat Municipal Council today forced returning officer-cum-SDM Jag Niwas to seal the ballot box as Congress-supported candidate Veena Rani and Sadhana of the BJP-led Opposition, including the INLD, were tied at 16 votes each.
In the polling, the councillors were given slips carrying the names of the candidates and they were asked to write “han” (yes) or “naa” (no) in
front of candidates name. The councillor whose vote was rejected had written “hai” instead of “han” in front of the name of BJP candidate Sadhna.
The rejection of the vote was strongly opposed by the BJP-led Opposition, which raised slogans against the government and the SDM, demanding that the rejected vote be counted in favour of the BJP candidate.
State media in charge of the BJP Rajiv Jain claimed that the councillor had already written the name of the BJP candidate for whom he wished to vote
and instead of writing “han”, he had written “hai”.
However, the SDM said 33 votes - 31 of councillors and one each of Congress MP Jitender Singh
Malik and BJP MLA Kavita Jain - were polled. During counting, one vote was rejected and it resulted in a tie between the two candidates, who got 16 votes each.
The SDM said there was a controversy over the rejection of the vote following which he took the decision to seal the votes and bring the issue to the notice of the higher authorities.
Both candidates for MC chief’s post end up with 16 votes each
Sonepat, July 7
The rejection of the vote of a councillor during the counting of votes for the election to the post of chairperson of the Sonepat Municipal Council today forced returning officer-cum-SDM Jag Niwas to seal the ballot box as Congress-supported candidate Veena Rani and Sadhana of the BJP-led Opposition, including the INLD, were tied at 16 votes each.
In the polling, the councillors were given slips carrying the names of the candidates and they were asked to write “han” (yes) or “naa” (no) in
front of candidates name. The councillor whose vote was rejected had written “hai” instead of “han” in front of the name of BJP candidate Sadhna.
The rejection of the vote was strongly opposed by the BJP-led Opposition, which raised slogans against the government and the SDM, demanding that the rejected vote be counted in favour of the BJP candidate.
State media in charge of the BJP Rajiv Jain claimed that the councillor had already written the name of the BJP candidate for whom he wished to vote
and instead of writing “han”, he had written “hai”.
However, the SDM said 33 votes - 31 of councillors and one each of Congress MP Jitender Singh
Malik and BJP MLA Kavita Jain - were polled. During counting, one vote was rejected and it resulted in a tie between the two candidates, who got 16 votes each.
The SDM said there was a controversy over the rejection of the vote following which he took the decision to seal the votes and bring the issue to the notice of the higher authorities.
