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Rajya Sabha polls: Battle for Gujarat, but battleground is Delhi

At the first meeting with the EC, Congress leaders Randeep Surjewala demanded that the votes of Bholabhai Gohil and Raghavjibhai Patel be cancelled a since they violated the "secrecy of the ballot."

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AHMED PATEL
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A high-voltage drama was played out on Tuesday night at the Election Commission's (EC) headquarters on Ashoka Road, with senior leaders of both the ruling BJP and the Congress knocking on its doors several times. While the Congress petitioned the EC to reject the votes of two of its rebels for showing their ballot papers to BJP president Amit Shah, who is himself a candidate, the BJP opposed the Congress's move. Terming the Congress' objections as "baseless", the BJP demanded the immediate counting of votes, contending that their validity — once they were put in the ballot box — could not be questioned.

The Congress was the first to move the EC demanding the cancellation of votes. At the first meeting with the EC, Congress leaders Randeep Surjewala demanded that the votes of Bholabhai Gohil and Raghavjibhai Patel be cancelled a since they violated the "secrecy of the ballot."

The two-member team of Chief Election Commissioner AK Joti and Election Commissioner Om Prakash Rawat gave a hearing not once but twice, first to a Congress delegation led by Rajya Sabha Opposition leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and then Gujarat in-charge general secretary Ashok Gehlot. They then heard the BJP delegation first led by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and then Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.

The BJP delegation reached the EC's doors for the third time as TV channels were stating that Congress was again meeting the EC. But strangely, the Congress delegation didn't turn up. Union Minister Piyush Goyal, who was in the BJP delegation visiting the EC's office said, "It is a complete sham that Congress is indulging in, the allegations are completely baseless."

Soon after the Congress petitioned the EC, a high-powered BJP team of union ministers went to the Nirvachan Sadan to plead with it to ignore the Congress' claim. Then, another Congress delegation, which also included former union home minister P Chidambaram, went to the EC for the second time to counter the BJP's claims.

Congress leader P Chidambaram said, "There is enough evidence that the ballot papers were seen by people other than those authorised. The EC must reject these ballot papers as it did in Haryana in June 2016."

After Chidambaram, Prasad then led the BJP delegation to the EC for the second time. Countering Chidrambaram's claims, Prasad said, "If neither they (Congress) nor election observers objected to it when votes were cast, then the votes cannot be questioned now," he said, and demanded that "the counting of votes should be done immediately and results declared."

Prasad alleged that the Congress was reacting out of "fear of losing the poll," in which its senior leader Ahmed Patel had been locked in a tight fight with a Congress rebel fielded by the BJP.

In a representation submitted to the Commission, Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala reminded the EC that a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court in Kuldip Nayar's case has clearly held that in the Rajya Sabha elections, an open ballot only means that the MLA can show the vote to the authorised representative of his party and none other.

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