The Election Commission’s order countermanding the Chhapra Lok Sabha polls last year and the inquiry report into the issue by election advisor K.J. Rao and Principal Secretary Anand Sharma will pass any ‘‘judicial’’ test, said senior EC officials .The Rao-Kumar report records the manner in which the rigging took place during the polls. ‘‘It was observed that in most of these registers quite a few signatures were put in the same hand and quite a few thumb impressions looked similar. The silent booth capturing was so glaring that a mere look at these registers left no one in any doubt,’’ the report said.The EC officials, who did not wish to be identified, told The Indian Express: ‘‘Both the documents would stand the test of judicial court. Our records clearly show that Chhapra elections failed on both counts: ‘free’ and ‘fair’.’’Detailing booth-by-booth records, the report said voting took place in serialised manner. Voters ‘‘are shown to have voted at the respective polling stations in the order of their names as they appear in the rolls which is impossible in normal course of polling and raises a strong suspicion about fairness of the process,’’ it said.That the Chhapra polls were was not ‘‘free’’ was evident from reports, complaints and footage of violence during elections last year, the officials said.The EC order on May 10, 2004, stated that ‘‘the poll was vitiated by booth capturing on a large scale in an atmosphere of terror and intimidation.’’The order quoted the main contestants—Laloo and BJP’s Rajiv Pratap Rudy—who told the Commission that ‘‘the entire parliamentary constituency was vitiated due to booth capturing and violence’’ by rivals.On its contention that polls were not ‘‘fair’’ either, the EC officials said records, especially voters’ registers, showed that largescale rigging took place.The officials said Saptarishi, who only cited rigging in a few booths and ‘‘attempted to paint a picture that the polling was by and large peaceful’’, did not have access to the register, showing that rigging took place in 60 pc of booths in Chhapra.
