Jharkhand RS polls: ‘Election process seriously vitiated’

 In an uprecedented step, the Election Commission on Friday night countermanded the Rajya Sabha polls in Jharkhand in the wake of allegations of horse trading and seizure of over Rs 2 crore in cash, saying the election process there "has been seriously vitiated". 

"The Commission is satisfied that the current election process for Rajya Sabha election from Jharkhand has been seriously vitiated and cannot be permitted to proceed," the 3-member EC headed by Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi said in a 12-page order. 

"Accordingly, the Commission hereby recommends under Article 324 of the Constitution read with Section 21 of the General Clauses Act, 1897, to the President that she may be pleased to rescind the notification of March 12 calling upon the elected members of Jharkhand Legislative Assembly to elect two members to the Council of States," it said. 

While Rajya Sabha elections have been countermanded in the past, this is the first time that such a step has been taken on account of vitiation of the election process because of money power. 

The Commission's decision came after a day-long meeting to inquire into the source of the huge cash seizures made by Income Tax authorities in Ranchi this morning. 

The order came following complaints by several political parties to the EC over use of money power and horse trading in these polls. 

The Commission's decision came after a day-long meeting to inquire into the source of the huge cash seizures made by Income Tax authorities in Ranchi Friday morning. 

The order came following complaints by several political parties to the EC over use of money power and horse trading in these polls. 

The EC action comes in the wake of cash seizure of Rs 2.15 crore from a vehicle belonging to the brother of one of the independent candidates RK Agarwal on the outskirts of Ranchi early this morning ahead of the RS poll. 

Further enquiries by the EC in Jharkhand revealed that "prima facie, the source of the cash found in the vehicle is unexplained and is liable for seizure". 

"The person carrying the cash Sudhanshu Tripathy stated that the cash was handed over to him by Soumitra Sah, son-in-law of RK Agarwal. The same was to be handed over to a person named Khandelwal, the owner of a Ford Ikon showroom at Ranchi and the vehicle under reference is in the name of Suresh Kumar Agarwal, brother of RK Agarwal and the cash found appears to be without clear source and efforts are on to detect its real source", the EC said. 

Veteran lawyer and BJP MP Ram Jethmalani said the EC, by countermanding the RS elections in Jharkhand, has "set up an excellent precedent" while his party colleague Yashwant Sinha said he was happy with the EC decision as Rajya Sabha polls "have been a happy hunting ground for money bags". 

CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta said the election laws should be amended and state financing should be there for the general elections, for state elections. As for RS elections, there should be no secret voting. Voting should be open". 

The report of Jharkhand Chief Electoral Officer to the EC said the Income Tax authorites "received information from a reliable source late on the night of 29th March, 2012, that cash would be transported from Jamshedpur to Ranchi for distribution in connection with the election. 

Therefore, with the help of the district police authorities, a picket was placed on Jamshedpur Ranchi highway (NH-33) at Rampur Haat to check the movement of suspicious vehicles. 

At around 6.30 am today, an Innova Car bearing Jharkhand registration number was nabbed with a person named Sudhanshu Tripathy carrying unaccounted cash to the tune of Rs 2.15 crore for the purpose of distribution in connection with the election on behalf of RK Agarwal, an independent candidate in the election. 

The cash was being carried by Tripathy who is an employee of Shah Sponge and Power Limited having its offices at Chaibasa and Jamshedpur. 

The Jharkhand CEO’s report, on which the EC acted, also said that apart from the intercepted vehicle, there was information about two more vehicles carrying unaccounted cash following the Innova from Jamshedpur but they went back to Jamshedpur along with the alleged cash after noticing that the Innova had been intercepted by the authorites. 

"The cash in the subsequent two vehicles was reportedly handed over at the residence of Prakash Khemani at Jamshedpur. A search action has been initiated at the residence of Khemani and surveys are being conducted at the office premises of Khemani and Shah Sponge and Power Limited at Jamshedpur with the authorisation of search issued by the Commissioner of Income Tax, Jamshedpur", the EC said. 

The Rajya Sabha election for the two seats in Jharkhand was necessitated on account of the expiry of term of Surendrajeet Singh Ahluwalia and Mabel Rebello who are due to retire on April 2. 

For filling up the two vacancies, five candidates filed their nominations including Pravin Kumar Singh of Jharkhand Vikash Morcha, Pradip Kumar Balmuchu of Congress, Sanjiv Kumar of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and two independents Pawan Kumar Dhoot and Raj Kumar Agarwal. 

Ahead of the polls, Gurudas Dasgupta, sent a representation to the EC, citing media reports "on strong and tangible apprehensions about horse trading" to garner votes of vulnerable MLAs". 

A day later on March 27, Babu Lal Marandi, Member of Parliament and former chief minister of Jharkhand, called on the Commission with a delegation and presented a memorandum expressing similar concerns. 

Marandi’s letter was followed by another from JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav who also spoke of the possibility of use of money power in the elections. 

Taking note of these apprehensions, the Commission on March 27 instructed the Chief Secretary of Jharkhand and other authorities concerned to keep a strict watch on the situation and prevent any such incident. 

Team Anna member Kejriwal does not vote, Cong takes a dig

Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal has been embroiled in yet another controversy. This time it had to do with his reluctance to vote in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections on Tuesday. Nonetheless, he was forced to retract after a hullaballoo in the media.

Kejriwal was reportedly heading to Goa for a Team Anna meet without casting his vite. But after the media picked up the story he came back to Ghaziabad to cast his vote, only to find that his name was not in the voters list.

Later Kejriwal said that he had the voters’ card and that he had returned to vote as he had ‘realised his mistake’. "I was feeling guilty when I was leaving for Goa."

This goof-up by the anti-corruption crusader gave a chance to his detractors to take a dig at him. Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh promptly tweeted, “If they do believe in democracy then what form of democracy.” “Obviously Team Anna doesn't practice what it preaches. They should clarify whether they believe in democracy or not,” he added. Further rubbing it in, he tweeted, “Great protectors of probity in public life. Anna doesn't go to vote. Kejriwal doesn't care to see whether he is registered as voter.”

Arvind Kejriwal was involved in another controversy recently when on February 25 he had termed Parliamentarians as 'robbers' and 'rapists'. This remark had sparked off a huge controversy with the entire political class coming down heavily on the social activist.

Also in what seems ironical now, Anna Hazare had met Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi just a few days back and pressed the poll panel to consider implementing the measures suggested by the civil society in the proposed electoral reform process.

Anna was accompanied by Arvind Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi.

The meeting was held in the backdrop of Quraishi’s rejection of Team Anna’s two main demands of incorporating ‘right to recall’ and ‘right to reject’ in the proposed electoral reform process.

The poll panel chief was of the opinion that the 'right to reject' or the 'right to recall' non-performing MPs may not work in a large country like India.