MAPUSA
Revolutionary Goans Party (RGP) on Tuesday cried foul against unauthorized tampering of the postal ballot box in Mapusa felicitation centre but the Election Commission officials said there was nothing to worry about as all procedures of the Election Commission of India were followed.
The Mapusa candidate of RGP, Rohan Salgaonkar in a written complaint to the Chief Election Officer, said that the postal ballot box in Mapusa was opened without intimating him or his election agent.
On his visit to the office of the Returning Officer of Mapusa, Salgoankar found a postal ballot box open and with its seal broken. The ballot box which was sealed earlier had signatures of all the candidates.
Raising concern against unauthorized tampering of the postal ballot box, the RGP candidate along with his aides began to question the officials present in the RO’s office.
“We had come to fill the form for our counting agent when one form among us noticed that the postal ballot box was lying open in the office. There are around 300 postal ballots of senior citizens and physically disabled voters in the box,” Salgaonkar said.
For almost an hour chaos ensued in the office of the RO with the RGP candidate and his supporters suspecting mischief in the postal ballot box even as the Assistant Returning Officer tried his best to explain that all procedures laid down by the Election Commission of India were followed.
Later clarifying on the incident, North Goa Collector and District Election Officer (DEO) Ajit Roy said that all procedures have been followed to transfer the postal ballots from felicitation centres to a strong room.
“Till February 13, there was a felicitation centre in the office of every Returning Officer where all postal ballots were put in the dropbox. After the polling day all the ballots that were received at the felicitation centre were taken to a strong room which is in the office of the RO,” Roy said.
The DEO further said that the dropbox was opened and all the ballots which are in sealed envelopes were transferred into a steel trunk in the strong room.
“Dropboxes are open, not the ballot paper. Everything is video-graphed. That is the procedure. It’s transparent. The point is people don’t know. Candidates of political parties don’t send their agents. Candidates have a right to ask for footage,” he said.
