Assam | Upamanyu Hazarika seeks removal of Gauhati Returning Officer

Guwahati, May 20, 2019:

Independent candidate from Gauhati Lok Sabha Constituency, Upamanyu Hazarika has on Monday registered a complaint with the Election Commission of India seeking the removal of the Returning Officer of Guwahati Lok Sabha Constituency in Assam.

Hazarika has made the request on two grounds: Firstly, the 'suspicious' storing of unused EVMs of Tezpur Lok Sabha Constituency in the vicinity of the EVM storage strong room in Amingaon, without intimation to any of the candidates in Guwahati Lok Sabha Constituency.

Hazarika has alleged that Neither the candidates for the Tezpur Lok Sabha Constituency nor those in Gauhati Lok Sabha Constituency were informed about such transfer and that too in the dead of night. He has alleged that this is a serious lapse on the part of the returning officers of Tezpur and Gauhati Lok Sabha Constituency, particularly the fact that the unused EVMs were stored in a place proximate to the Gauhati Lok Sabha Constituency strong-room and none of the candidates were informed.

Secondly, on 17 May another communication was issued by the said Officer seeking presence of candidates for opening of strong room in Amingaon on 20 May, three days prior to counting "without any reason".

Hazarika has alleged that the Officer is acting with a collateral motive to unduly influence the election outcome and he don’t have faith in the Officer's ability to conduct the electoral process fairly.

The election in Assam was held in Assam during the first three phases of the polls, i.e, 11, 18, and 23 April. Counting of votes will be held on 23 May. Congress' Bobbeeta Sharma and BJP's Queen Oja are the other noteworthy candidates from Gauhati Lok Sabha constituency.

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