The State Election Commissioner vowed to take strong action against officials for tampering with the EVMs during counting of votes for the ward councillors' elections. The incident had resulted in postponement of results of as many as six wards of Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC).
Talking to mediapersons, SEC SD Sharma, said "tampering with the seal is a criminal offence so we will lodge FIR against officials for opening the EVMs."
The SEC also said he had received the report on cash-for-vote incident from the concerned agency and that he would be in a position to comment on the contents of reports only after going through it. He declined to comment on the counting and declaration of results of the remaining wards.
Significantly, the SEC recommended the cancellation of mayoral polls following the evidence collected from various sources. Sharma said "we have carefully examined all evidence" and all investigative agencies would do their duty. The letter has been sent to the Governor and assent to the recommendation may take time as the Governor has to go through the report first, added Sharma.
The recommendation for cancellation has come in the light of sections of Article 243 read with People's Representation Act 1951 of Jharkhand Municipal Act 2011 and General Clauses Act 1897. Also, the recommendation was decided after carefully studying orders of Supreme Court and Jharkhand High Court.
Incidentally, the SEC is waiting for the verdict of the Civil Court on Rama Khalkho, the prime focus of the cash-for-vote incident, to decide on the fate of the latter.
Khalkho has been mentioned as accused in the alleged cash-for-vote scam and is evading arrest since then. The incident happened a day before Ranchi went to the polls, April 8.