New Delhi [India], April 2 : The Delhi High Court on Thursday disposed of a petition connected with the surplus of vote count over the votes polled in the Bar Council of Delhi (BCD) election, saying that there is no need to interfere in the decision of the Returning Officer.
However, the High Court said that the results will be declared after the reconciliation of votes. The high court noted that the returning officer has already given an assurance for vote reconciliation.
The counting of votes is going on after the polling in February.
The petition filed by 9 candidates had assailed the decision of the Returning Officer of March 20 and sought a direction that the reconciliation process should be carried out forthwith while the counting process is going on.
Justice Amit Bansal disposed of the petition, saying, "In my considered view, no grounds for interference with the aforesaid decision are made out. The grievance of the candidates/ petitioners has been adequately addressed by the Returning Officer, and the reconciliation process will be carried out once the process of counting is over and before the results are declared."
"Needless to state, the results of the elections shall be declared only after the reconciliation process is conducted," Justice Bansal ordered.
Nine candidates, including Advocate Anushkaa Arora, Shahid Ali and others, approached the High Court alleging that surplus votes were counted more than the votes polled. They had challenged the decision of the Returning Officer of March 20.
While disposing of the petition, the High Court noted that in the said communication of 20th March, the Returning Officer, who is a former Judge of this Court, has assured the candidates/ petitioners that reconciliation of all votes shall take place after the counting process is over.
The petitioners submitted that upon conclusion of round 1 of the counting, certain candidates would be eliminated and therefore, a reconciliation exercise should be carried out after round 1 of the counting.
"Let a representation be made by the petitioners in this regard before the Returning Officer," the court said.
Advocate T Singh Dev, counsel appearing on behalf of the Bar Council of Delhi, objected to the maintainability of the present petition.
Justice disposed of the petition saying, " In light of the order passed above, the Court need not go into the aspect of maintainability, which is kept open."
The petition stated that on March 18, the Returning Officer, while concluding the counting of total votes polled on the first day of the BCD elections on February 21, declared the total tally count for Day 1 as 17,799 votes. However, the total votes polled on March 21, stood at 17,585 votes, thereby disclosing an unexplained surplus of 214 votes.
Petitioner said that the Returning Officer, through a communication dated March 20, declined to undertake any immediate verification and instead deferred reconciliation until completion of the counting
process, stating that such reconciliation is time-consuming and not conducted on a day-to-day basis.