Dharamshala, June 1
A controversy has emerged over vote counting in District Council Ward No. 5, Bhattalla, after candidate Mahinder Singh alleged serious irregularities and demanded a recount.
Mahinder Singh submitted a memorandum to Kangra Deputy Commissioner Hemraj Bairwa on Monday, seeking intervention and a thorough investigation into the matter. He claimed that discrepancies observed during the vote-counting process on May 31 have raised concerns about the fairness and transparency of the election results.
According to Singh, he was initially declared defeated by a narrow margin of eight votes. Following the announcement, he immediately submitted a recount request to the SDM of Shahpur. However, he alleged that no action was taken on his application for nearly 30 minutes. Later, he was informed that the deadline for seeking a recount had expired and that only the District Magistrate could authorize such a request.
Singh further questioned the accuracy of the counting process, pointing to an apparent discrepancy in the total number of votes recorded. He claimed that while 14,923 votes were cast for the Panchayat Samiti across the Bhattalla area, the vote count for the District Council election stood at 14,940, indicating 17 additional votes. He sought clarification on how the extra votes were recorded during counting.
Alleging administrative negligence and deliberate denial of his right to seek a recount, Singh stated that his application was not processed on time and was subsequently marked as being submitted after the permitted period.
Maintaining that the counting process was not conducted fairly, Singh has appealed to the Deputy Commissioner to order a high-level and impartial inquiry into the alleged irregularities. He has also requested that the election results be withheld until the investigation is completed to ensure transparency, fairness, and public confidence in the democratic process.
The district administration has not yet issued an official response to the allegations.
