Loose cannon George backfires again

But the EC said the Home Ministry had denied that the director had submitted any report to Fernandes. The Commission sought an inquiry at the highest level in the Government to clear the contradiction between the Defence Minister’s reference to the IB director and the Home Secretary’s denial.

A grim-sounding Chief Election Commissioner M S Gill told journalists this evening that the Commission was “seriously concerned and disturbed” that allegations without any serious basis were being made and publicised, “perhaps to disturb the electoral exercise being undertaken in the state.”

Fernandes had complained to the EC that some 130,000 “duplicate” or excess ballot papers were printed at the West Bengal Government-owned Saraswati Press in Calcutta for the two constituencies which he and party colleague Nitish Kumar are contesting.

A team of senior EC officials, which visited the press following Fernandes’s complaint, reported back to the Commission that the printing of the papers had been totally in adherence to the law and EC guidelines. “The team has stated that there was no excess printing of ballot papers as alleged,” Gill said.

But what has disturbed the EC was Samata Party president’s attempt to drag in the Intelligence Bureau into the controversy. Following Fernandes’s complaint to the EC, the Commission has asked the Home Secretary for a copy of the DIB’s report, that Fernandes had referred to in his complaint of September 17.

To their surprise, the Home Secretary denied giving any such report to Fernandes and stated categorically that “no such report was furnished by him to George Fernandes.”

Fernandes has said that he had received the information about the excess ballot papers from a senior Samata Party leader Lallan Singh. Fernandes then sought confirmation from the DIB about the ballot papers, “who came back to him after some time, and confirmed that excess ballot papers had been printed.”

Election Commissioner G V G Krishnamurty said it was a violation of the Official Secrets Act (OSA) and a corrupt electoral practice for a candidate to try to find out where the ballot papers were being printed.

Amidst Fernandes’s allegations that there was a conspiracy afoot to rig the polls in Bihar, the Commission decided to investigate the situation and had sent the team of officials to Calcutta and later to Bihar to make a thorough check of the situation.

For the Election Commission, the Defence Minister’s allegations appear to have touched a raw nerve. Gill and the two Commissioners Krishnamurty and J M Lyngdoh, today expressed their strong feelings about the attempts by political parties to question the credibility of the Commission.

“The Election Commission is concerned that, while it is engaged in a most difficult election, and its energy should be devoted to that end, it is being forced to give considerable time to warding off loose and vague allegations,” they said.

The Commission has also sought an inquiry at the highest level in the government to clear the contradiction between the Defence Minister’s reference to the DIB and the Home Secretary’s denial.

In another decision, the Election Commission has ordered repolling in 461 polling stations in four states following incidents of violence and disruption of the polls held on September 18.

These include repolls in 201 polling stations in Bihar where polls were marred by clashes and violence.

Repolling has also been ordered in 107 polling stations in Uttar Pradesh, 88 in Andhra Pradesh and 65 in Madhya Pradesh.

Meanwhile, the Patna High Court has asked the IB Director and the Union Home Ministry to file affidavits by the morning of September 22.

Chief Justice B N Agrawala and Justice B P Singh were hearing a petition filed by JD(U) general secretary Lallan Singh on Saturday asking for a CBI probe into the “printing of excess ballot papers.”

But EC counsel said the allegations were baseless and informed the court that the Chief Election Commissioner had already sent a two-member team to Calcutta to investigate. Besides, the ballot papers have already been sent to constituencies where polls are scheduled on September 25.