Dehradun, Feb 24 (PTI) The Congress in Uttarakhand on Thursday lodged a formal complaint with the Election Commission in connection with alleged tampering of postal ballots in Didihat constituency of Pithoragarh district.
State Congress president Ganesh Godiyal led a party delegation to Chief Electoral Officer Saujanya and handed over a memorandum to her alleging that postal ballots meant for service voters never reached them.
It amounts to denying service voters their right to franchise, Godiyal said in the memorandum.
Clipping of a viral video purportedly showing alleged tampering of postal ballots in favour of the BJP and Independent candidates has also been enclosed with the memorandum as a proof, senior vice president of the state Congress unit Surendra Kumar who was part of the delegation said.
The party demanded that the electoral process through postal ballots meant for servicemen, personnel on poll duty, people aged above 80 years and the physically challenged should be kept transparent.
The Election Commission has already sought a report from the Pithoragarh District Magistrate on alleged tampering of postal ballots in Didihat.
An FIR in connection with the viral video purportedly showing a man in Army uniform ticking and signing several postal ballots has already been registered by the police under relevant sections of the IPC and People’s Representation Act, Pithoragarh SP Lokeshwar Singh said.
Senior Congress leader and former chief minister Harish Rawat was the first to share the video on Twitter and Facebook on Tuesday. PTI ALM SMN SMN
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
Source: The Print
