Chudasama election case: Initiated proceedings against election officer, EC tells HC

Justice Paresh Upadhyay, however, noted that the court had not enquired or sought any such submission from the ECI.

The High Court was hearing a petition challenging senior cabinet minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama’s win from the Dholka constituency in the 2017 Assembly Elections.

In the previous hearing, the High Court had directed that the Election Commission be made a party in the case. In its order on April 2, the court noted that the facts are “so glaring that this court has thought it prudent to put the facts to the notice of the ECI so that it can consider and look into it and take appropriate corrective/preventive measures, if it so desires.”

Earlier this month, the EC had shunted out Jani as Prant Officer from Dholka.

Furthermore, in light of the April 2 order of the Gujarat HC that had noted certain lapses by then General Observer, Vinita Bohra, the ECI wrote to the Rajasthan government’s Chief Secretary, stating, “The ECI has viewed the lapses on her part seriously and directs that disciplinary proceedings be initiated for imposing major penalty against Bohra for non-compliance to ECI’s instructions during counting of votes.”’

Meanwhile, the ECI has also issued a notification to all CEOs across the country on the counting procedure to be thus followed.

Meanwhile, Vinita Bohra, who was an EC-appointed general observer, sought more time from the court to assign herself a legal representative. The court agreed to her request and the matter has now been adjourned for further hearing to May 8.

Although not put in the court’s official record, Bohra mentioned that the form submitted by Jani, enumerating the postal ballot count, it had been recorded that zero postal ballot votes had been rejected.

BJP’s Chudasama, who holds the portfolio of higher technical education, legislative and parliamentary affairs and civil aviation, had won from Dholka by a mere margin of 327 votes in the December Assembly polls. Congress candidate Ashwin Rathod, in his petition challenging the election, had alleged the then RO Jani of wrongfully invalidating 429 votes cast through postal ballots leading to Rathod’s defeat.