A first information report has been registered against Haryana Minister of State for Cooperatives Manish Grover and former Rohtak MLA B.B. Batra, a Congress leader, for violation of model code of conduct during polling for the Lok Sabha election in Rohtak on May 12.
The FIR has been registered on charges of disobeying the orders of a public servant and disorderly conduct near a polling station.
The case was registered a day after All-India Congress Committee general secretary and Haryana affairs in-charge Ghulam Nabi Azad wrote to the Election Commission of India accusing the Minister of entering at least six booths of Rohtak parliamentary constituency along with armed goons to influence voters.
SP Rohtak Jashandeep Singh Randhawa told The Hindu that the case was registered under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code and 131 of the Representation of the People Act at Shivaji Colony Police Station. “The case was registered based on the complaint of the Assistant Returning Officer (ARO) and the Presiding Officer concerned. The video of the incident is being examined and more people could be made accused in the case. The matter is under investigation,” said Mr. Randhawa.
Enter altercation
According to the FIR, Mr. Grover visited the polling booth no. 145 around 11 a.m. on May 12 and enquired from Presiding Officer Kulbir Singh about the process of appointment of polling agents.
While the Minister was going back, he ran into Mr. Batra at the exit of the booth and the two had an altercation. Mr. Singh told the ARO, who conducted inquiry into the matter, that it did not hamper the election process and none of the polling agents made any complaint to him in this regard. The two leaders then walked out from the booth making allegations and counter-allegations.
‘Threatened voters’
The FIR said that Rohtak sitting MP Deepender Hooda’s election agent Chander Sen had made a complaint saying that Mr. Grover had visited seven booths and threatened the voters. The ARO, however, said the Presiding Officers of all booths, except Mr. Singh, denied that any such incident had taken place at their booths.
In a related development, history-sheeter Ramesh Lohar, a resident of Bohar village, has already been arrested along with his six accomplices on various charges under the Indian Penal Code and the Arms Act. Mr. Azad, in his letter, had alleged that Mr. Grover along with Lohar and his accomplices had entered the polling booths in a brazen display of muscle power.
