Election Commission agrees to release RS Guj poll footage

The Election Commission of India has agreed to release the video of the footage based on which they disqualified the votes of two Congress MLAs who showed their ballot papers to people other than the authorised persons, during Rajya Sabha elections in Gujarat.

The EC's responded to an RTI application filed by a law student, who, among other information on the issue, sought the video of the footage based on which the commission disqualified the votes of the MLAs. "The said information shall be given to you after the submission of Rs 50 as charge," the EC reply read.

BJP had nominated party its chief Amit Shah and Union minister Smriti Irani for the two Rajya Sabha seats from the state. Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's political secretary Ahmed Patel was pitted against BJP's Balwantsinh Rajput for the third seat.

After the voting, Congress had approached the Election Commission seeking the cancellation of votes of two of its MLAs Bholabhai Gohil and Raghavjibhai Patel for alleged violation of norms. Congress alleged that the two MLAs had voted for BJP and had shown their votes to persons other than those authorised.

Congress claimed that voting procedure had been violated under Rule 39 of The Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, by these two legislators and hence their votes should be cancelled. Congress leaders Randeep Surjewala and RPN Singh had also produced a video of the poll proceedings to the commission and demanded that votes of its MLAs be cancelled for violating the "secrecy of ballot".

Based on the evidence given to it, the EC had agreed to cancel the votes.