Ahead Of MP Poll Results, Congress Accuses Collector of 'Opening Postal Ballots'

The Congress party has released a video alleging it depicts counting of postal ballots a week prior to the results.

A video has been shared by the Congress party from the strong room of Balaghat constituency. 

(Screengrab/ Twitter)

Days before the elections results in Madhya Pradesh, the Congress party in the state has accused the district administration of Balaghat constituency of displaying “blind following” towards the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government and indulging in election malpractice.

The Congress, on Monday, 27 November, shared a video of a group of men sitting with postal ballots and purportedly opening them in the strong rooms. Strong rooms are safe houses designated by the Election Commission, where Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and postal ballots are kept, which are sealed with double locks.

“Dr. Girish Mishra, Collector of Balaghat district in Madhya Pradesh, today on 27th November, got the strong room opened and opened the boxes of postal ballots without informing the candidates. Counting the last breaths the Shivraj government and the collectors engrossed in blind devotion of the government are a big threat to democracy,” the MP Congress handle posted on X, formerly Twitter.

Former CM and Congress leader Kamal Nath also appealed to the Election Commission to take note of the matter.

The Congress party also registered a complaint with the Election Commission to immediately suspend the Balaghat District Collector and also investigate the matter.

District Collector's Explanation

Balaghat Collector Girish Kumar Mishra, however, denied the allegations. In a video statement, Mishra said that the purpose of the exercise on Monday was to segregate the incoming postal ballots, and this was done in the presence of representatives of both the BJP and the Congress.

“As per the process, ballots coming in through various districts are segregated assembly-wise after opening the strong room...The ballots are then carefully placed in bundles as per rules laid down by the Election Commission,” Mishra said. “Someone shot a video of the process and circulated it to cause confusion,” he added. Mishra said that the ballots were merely being segregated and no votes were counted.

The Madhya Pradesh Chief Election Officer (CEO) Anupam Ranjan also denied that any wrongdoing had taken place.

"The service votes (postal ballots) were being segregated assembly-wise by taking them out from the strong room in the presence of authorised Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party agents. These were kept in the boxes meant for them," Ranjan told reporters, as per PTI.

The Congress, however, doesn’t seem too convinced with this clarification, as Kamal Nath continued to slam the district officer on Tuesday as well.

“The way postal ballots were opened in Balaghat yesterday is serious misconduct. After that, the way the government machinery and responsible officials tried to justify this act is an even more unforgivable crime,” he wrote.

Madhya Pradesh voted on 17 November for its 230-member strong assembly. The results will be out on 3 December, along with those of four other states.