A four-member Election Commission team was rubbing its hands in disbelief after a high-profile list of voters figured during the by-polls for Mainpuri Lok Sabha constituency.L.K. Advani, Mayawati, Sonia Gandhi, Kalyan Singh, Rajnath Singh, Uma Bharati, Rahul Gandhi, Maneka Gandhi — all had seemingly cast their votes in Jasrana assembly segment of Mainpuri. When IRS Official Anuj Gogiya as EC observer detected this anomaly, Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav levelled allegations against him, claiming he would drink on duty.Baffled by this unusually high-profile list — complete with signatures — one of the members of the EC inquiry team said there were two posssibilties: One, a group of pranksters signed as the leaders and the presiding officer did not bother to cross-check. Or, the booth capturers actually converted the whole exercise into a farce, and the presiding officer let them do the same.With the EC team finding discrepancy in the records of nearly 50 per cent of the 1,206 polling stations in Mainpuri, chances are the EC would countermand by-elections. A decision may be taken on the issue tomorrow.The by-poll in the constituency was necessitated after Mulayam resigned as party supremo (to take charge as CM). His nephew Dharmendra Yadav was all set to win the poll till the EC stopped the counting. In a rare show of unanimity, Congress, BJP and BSP candidates complained to the EC, accusing the SP of indulging in largescale rigging and booth-capturing. The complaints also cited intimidation of the voters who, they said, never came out to vote.
