Guwahati: The Gauhati High Court on Monday issued notices to Karimganj BJP Lok Sabha MP Kripanath Mallah, the Election Commission (EC), and the returning officer in response to a petition filed by the defeated Congress candidate, Hafiz Ahmed Rashid Choudhury.
Justice Sanjay Kumar Medhi summoned Mallah, the EC, and the returning officer, scheduling the next hearing for August 19.
Choudhury contested the results of the constituency, where the BJP candidate had won by 18,360 votes.
He alleged that the BJP candidate committed multiple ‘corrupt practices’ while campaigning as well as on the day of elections, including widespread rigging, booth capturing, voter intimidation through undue influence and bribery and sought for the election to be declared null and void.
On polling day, Choudhury's legal team convener Gautam Choudhury continuously lodged complaints with the EC via email, highlighting incidents of rigging and booth capturing at 20 polling stations.
Additionally, Choudhury's election agent submitted a complaint detailing corrupt electoral practices, specifically booth capturing, at 31 polling stations.
The petition also questioned the integrity of the voting process, citing alleged discrepancies in the EC's voter turnout data.
While the EC reported 11,36,538 votes polled, which increased to 11,43,796 after including postal ballots, the total votes counted totaled 11,47,607, indicating an unexplained addition of 3,811 votes.