The Karnataka High Court on Monday accepted the result of the recounting of votes polled during the elections to the Bellary Lok Sabha constituency in which Bharatiya Janata Party candidate J. Shantha was declared elected.
Justice H. Billappa passed the order after going through a report filed by the Election Commission of India (ECI) pointing out that minor procedural discrepancies allegedly occurred during voting and counting would not have impacted the outcome of the election.
The court on June 11 set aside Ms. Shantha’s election to the Lok Sabha and ordered recounting of votes, while holding that there were irregularities in the process of counting as the number of votes recorded in some electronic voting machines (EVMs) did not tally with those counted from them. The court passed the orders on a petition by Chandre Gowda, an election agent of the defeated Congress candidate.
Recounting was held on September 15 after the Supreme Court confirmed the High Court’s order. However, soon after recounting, the petitioner filed an objection complaining about the mismatch between the number of votes recorded in some EVMs and number of votes counted from them.
Following this, the High Court sought a report from the ECI, which clarified that there was no material to dispute the result as there was no change in the number of votes polled or secured by the candidates. Accepting the report, the court dismissed the petition that challenged Ms. Shantha’s election.
Status report
The court on Monday asked the State government to submit a status report on the progress made by its agencies in procuring jetting machines to ensure that human labour was not used in cleaning inside septic tanks or manholes and also other actions initiated on the recommendations made by Karnataka State Legal Services Authority.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Vikramajit Sen and Justice B.V. Nagarathna issued the direction during the hearing on a public interest litigation petition filed by former Advocate-General R.N. Narasimha Murthy and the People’s Union for Civil Liberties .
Meanwhile, the Bench adjourned the hearing on the issue related to the death of two persons, who died after they fell into a sewage pit on November 23 at hotel Royal Orchid Central, Shimoga, the management of which has links with the family members of the former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa. The Bench adjourned hearing till January 15, while awaiting a comprehensive post-mortem report.
