Congress candidate Rajegowda wins after recount of postal ballots in Sringeri constituency

CHIKKAMAGALUR: The Congress candidate T D Rajegowda has won the election from Sringeri Assembly constituency after a recount of postal ballots on Saturday.

Congress workers celebrated the victory near IDSG College after the results were announced. The lead was 201 earlier, now it’s 203 after postal ballots were recounted. The recount was carried out on the orders of the High Court.

The recounting started at 9 am at IDSG College and the postal ballots were recounted at a single table. CCTV cameras were installed in the counting room and the counting was held under the supervision of Election Officer Gaurav Shetty, with six assistant election officers. Congress MLA Rajegowda and BJP former MLA Jeevaraj’s agents were present.

In the 2023 election, Rajegowda won by 201 votes. Of the 1,822 postal votes, 279 were rejected. First, 279 ballot papers were counted, then 1,540 votes, plus 3 NOTA votes, totalling 1,822 postal votes. The counting took place in the presence of the candidates and the result was announced after the counting was completed. Former minister Jeevaraj objected to the rejected votes. He had approached the court against 279 rejected votes. The High Court had ordered a recount on April 6.

In 2023, 12 candidates had contested and Congress’s T D Rajegowda had won by a margin of 201 votes. During the 2023 counting, two candidates were absent. After the result was declared, Congress candidate Rajegowda arrived at the counting centre.

Earlier in the day, election officials proceeded to bring the ballot papers from the strong room. MLA Rajegowda, former MLA Jeevaraj, and Sudhakar Shetty went to the strong room. District Commissioner Nagaraj and the tahsildars of Koppa, Sringeri and Chikkamagaluru were also present. Kiran H. Kulkarni came as the counting observer.

The ballot papers were brought from the strong room to IDSG College where recounting started after 9 am. The postal votes in Sringeri, officials opened the strong room in the presence of candidates. The postal votes were in 20 trunks. One trunk was opened, and one trunk was damaged. MLA Rajegowda and his agents objected to this following which the election officer said they would examine it on video.

There was some confusion over trunks being open in the strong room. Election officials inspected 20 trunks. Some trunks were found damaged during the officials’ inspection. Trunks without seals were found, but the postal ballot trunk was safe and sealed. The damaged trunks contained election-related documents. The officials clarified before the candidates that the postal ballot trunk was safe and there was no confusion.

Officials bundled the ballot papers with each bundle having 25 ballot papers. The 279 rejected votes were separated and the remaining 1,540 votes were bundled into sets of 25. During the recount, officials struggled to find rejected ballot papers. Only 270 of the 279 rejected ballot papers were found. Officials searched intensely for the remaining nine rejected ballot papers.

Before the recount of postal votes in Sringeri, Congress and BJP opposed the transfer of ballot papers from the strong room. Congress asked why and how the trunk was opened. BJP agents questioned why the strong room was also opened. They asked how they could cooperate with the recount if no explanation was given for the open trunk. Officials tried to persuade the BJP and Congress agents. After arguments, the vehicle carrying the ballot papers left.

Rajegowda said at the strong room, “The trunk is broken, the seal is open, the lock is broken. There is suspicion of tampering with the ballot boxes. I gave a written objection, but officials haven’t clarified. They should clarify why it was opened”.