MYSORE: As Congress readies to form the government, JD(S) leaders are crying foul over the poll results of T Narsipura assembly segment.
Congress nominee and former minister H C Mahadevappa won the segment with a slender margin of 323 votes, which is now being questioned by the JD(S). JD(S) district president S Chikkamadu, the newly-elected MLA from H D Kote, and party candidate from T Narsipura, M C Sundareshan, on Friday sought Karnataka chief electoral officer Anil Kumar Jha’s intervention for a recount of the votes polled.
During counting on May 8, the party candidate was leading in all the ten rounds, but slipped below the Congress candidate when the postal ballots were counted. “We pointed it out and sought a recount, which the returning officer H L Prabhakara rejected. Though we approached DC C Shikha, the district election officer, she refused to intervene and asked us to approach the court,” Chikkamadu said.
He said when the votes were counted, Sundareshan was leading. “We pointed this out and asked officials for a recount. But they said there was no difference and refused recounting,” they told reporters. Chikkamadu was at the counting centre since counting for H D Kote and T Narsipura were held at the same centre.
On the polling day, T Narsipura polled 1,79,845 votes, which is 71.15 per cent. They were counted in 10 rounds with 22 tables arranged for the counting of the ballots. “There should be recounting of the votes and EC should step in. In case it is not done, we’ll approach the court,” they said.
When contacted, Shikha said: “Returning officer is the sole authority with regard to the final results of counting of votes.” Following a request by Sundareshan, the returning officer and general observer Harpreet Singh did a recounting of votes of the last round and announced the final result, she said, but denied that the candidate met her. “Sundareshan did not meet me or spoke to me over telephone. I was not at the counting centre at the time,” she said.
