Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Thursday slammed government officials for the negligent handling of ballot boxes containing postal ballots of the Assembly election from Perinthalmanna constituency in 2021 despite having a case pending before the court against the counting.
The box that was recovered from a different office was opened in the court on Thursday. The court observed that ballot documents were not filed properly. They did not contain the signatures of the responsible officials. Moreover, the box was sealed without signatures on it. The HC also noted that one of the packets in the box was torn. These are serious lapses, the court observed.
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Later, the box was sealed by the court. Further action on the matter will be taken upon receiving the report of the election commission. The next hearing is scheduled for March 2.
The court was considering the petition submitted by the LDF-backed independent candidate KPM Musthafa questioning the win of Perinthalmanna MLA Najeeb Kanthapuram who had a majority of just 38 votes. The petitioner pointed out that 340 postal votes had not been counted citing technical issues. Nearly 300 of these votes were cast in favour of him, he claims.
The issues with handling the ballot boxes were noticed when the court asked the officers to produce the ballots in the court while hearing the plea.
The box went missing from the strongroom of the Perinthalmanna sub registrar office and was later recovered from the office of the District Joint Registrar of Cooperative Societies.
Published: 24 Feb 2023, 09:31 am IST
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