NEW DELHI: The election commission will in the forthcoming general elections to the parliament and state assemblies enforce provisions of a new law that gives it powers to countermand poll in an entire constituency if it is satisfied that there has not been a free and fair poll.
Commission sources said the commission had the power now to come to such a conclusion if it noticed prevalence of large scale coercion and intimidation of voters or if the repoll necessitated in Specific polling stations is itself likely to affect a fair verdict by the electorate.
Till 1989 when the representation of the people’s act 1951 was amended the law envisaged a polling station being taken as a unit for purposes of ordering a repoll. The act did not contain any provision with regard to repoll in an entire constituency
The new section 58a now provides that if the commission is satisfied in view of the large number of polling stations or places involved in booth capturing the result of the election is likely to be affected or that booth capturing had affected counting of votes in such a manner as to affect the result of the election it can countermand the election in that constituency.
Till date the new provisions of the amended law have been put to use in the Mecham assembly constituency in deputy premier Devi Lal’s Haryana State where large scale violence led the commission to countermand the poll twice last year a Devi Lal’s senior son and former chief minister of the state was Seeking entry into the assembly.
Article extracted from this publication >> May 17, 1991
