New Delhi: It was a draw of tons that sealed the destiny of senior Congress chief Abhishek Manu Singhvi, the occasion’s Rajya Sabha candidate from Himachal Pradesh, Tuesday night time.
Singhvi misplaced to BJP’s Harsh Mahajan regardless of each of them getting equal variety of votes, 34, for the only real Rajya Sabha seat, the election for which was held Tuesday. What determined Mahajan’s win was the choice of the returning officer, who was the chief electoral officer of the state, to carry a draw of lot as per Rule 75 of the Conduct of Election Guidelines, 1961.
Rule 75 offers with counting of votes the place just one seat is to be stuffed. Subsection 4 of the rule states that if two or extra candidates have gotten equal variety of votes, which is credited the identical worth, then the “returning officer shall decide by lot which of them shall be excluded.”
That is what occurred in Himachal Pradesh.
With each Mahajan and Singhvi getting 34 votes every, chief electoral officer Maneesh Garg, who was the returning officer, determined to carry a draw of tons. The names of each Singhvi and Mahajan have been written in two separate slips and put in a field in entrance of polling brokers and the candidates.
From the field, one slip was taken out, which had Singhvi’s identify. “Singhvi was excluded while Mahajan was declared the winner,” a supply within the Himachal Pradesh authorities mentioned.
The ruling Congress has a transparent majority with 40 members within the 68-member meeting in Himachal Pradesh. The BJP has 25 MLAs. However regardless of the quantity stacked in opposition to the BJP, Mahajan managed to get 34 votes after six Congress MLAs and three Independents cross voted in his favour, handing a humiliating defeat to Singhvi.
Former Lok Sabha secretary basic P.D.T. Achary mentioned that although “ünscientific” however in case of a tie, profitable candidates are determined by draw of tons, not solely in India however globally.
“The draw of lots is an arbitrary, unscientific process but what do you do? The law prescribes that this is how you have to pick the winning candidate in case of a tie,” he informed ThePrint.
He added that the method is identical for deciding the profitable candidate in case of the Lok sabha elections if the primary two candidates have polled equal variety of votes. “In Lok Sabha elections it happens rarely though.”
There was some precedent prior to now the place the profitable candidate was determined by way of a draw of tons or a toss of a coin.
Within the Assam panchayat elections in December 2018, at the least six candidates within the Barak Valley, who secured the identical variety of votes as the opposite candidate, have been declared winners by a toss of coin.
In 2017, BJP’s Meena Agarwal was chosen the winner within the Mathura Vrindavan Municipal Company election by way of a draw of lottery when each she and the Congress candidate secured 874 votes every.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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