KOCHI: Expressing doubt over the procedure adopted in the recounting of votes polled in the election for the post of college union chairman at Sree Kerala Varma College, (SKVC) Thrissur, the Kerala High Court on Friday pointed out that four votes that were valid in the original counting were treated as invalid during the recounting.
The court also expressed doubt over treating valid votes as invalid in the recounting. At the first counting, there were only 23 invalid votes and in recounting the number of invalid votes went up to 27. The bylaw for the election stated that every ballot paper rejected shall be endorsed by the returning officer and such papers shall be kept separately.
The court found that it was not followed in this case and pointed out that there was no specific reason in the complaint filed by the SFI candidate seeking re-counting. The complaint only stated that since there is some confusion regarding the counting of votes there should be a recounting.
Justice T R Ravi reserved for order the petition filed by Sreekuttan S, the KSU candidate seeking re-election. The court also pointed out that the returning officer has not signed any of the papers related to counting produced before the court. It was also observed that the persons who were not on the list for the polling duty had signed the document. Why did officials who are not on the list signed the documents, asked the court.