Updated: December 4, 2020 1:09:03 pm
Voting counting for the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation elections in Hyderabad on December 4, 2020. The Telangana High Court allowed the counting process to continue. (Source: GHMC)
The Telangana Superior Court held on Friday the latest order from the Telangana State Electoral Commission allowing the counting of ballots with distinctive marks instead of the rubber stamp with the cross-shaped arrow as valid votes. However, he allowed the vote counting to continue.
On Thursday, SEC Secretary M Ashok Kumar clarified “if the intent of the voter is clear in marking a particular candidate, that vote can be treated as a valid vote for the candidate as it is an error of the voting staff under rule 51 (h) of the Rules of Electoral Conduct, 2005.
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The results of those divisions where ballots with such distinctive markers cannot impact the final results can be announced, the court said, and ordered the SEC not to declare results where ballots with distinguished markers are in the majority. The court approved this order in the motion of the house proposed by the BJP and published the matter for an additional hearing on Monday.
The HC’s order stated: “The contested letter, dated 12/03/2020, is suspended for the time being. However, the Telangana State Election Commission is mandated to inform the returning officers and other officers who are keeping the ballot papers, which are not marked with the separate ‘Cross Arrow’, and to carry a recount of the ballot papers in dispute until the request for writing is decided. . If the margin of difference in the votes voted for the First and Second candidate is greater than the ballot papers in dispute, the Elections Officer is free to declare the results. If the margin is less than the disputed ballots, the disputed ballots will not be counted and the results for that District may not be declared. Disputed ballots will be kept in a safe place along with other ballots, according to the rules in force. Publish 12/07/2020 to allow learned Permanent Directors to present their counters “.
Welcoming the order as Telangana BJP’s victory, the party’s top state spokesman, K Krishna Saagar Rao, told indianexpress.com: “The count will continue. There will not be much difference, but a slight delay if the ballots marked are more, that particular candidate could lose, “he said.
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