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Deduct two votes from DKS' tally, directs EC

Last Updated 07 May 2013, 21:43 IST

Former minister and Kanakapura Congress candidate D K Shivakumar has lost two votes even before the counting of ballots of the May 5 State Assembly elections begins on Wednesday.

Taking cognisance of a report that “Shivakumar and his wife had voted together and watched each other voting at the EVM” at polling station number 234 in the Kanakapura Assembly constituency, the Election Commission on Tuesday directed the returning officer to deduct two votes from the total votes polled by the former minister.

The commission noted that voting together “is a clear violation of Rule 49-M of the conduct of Elections Rules, 1961, which states that no elector is allowed to enter the voting compartment when another elector is inside the compartment.”

The Commission, which viewed the video footage, said that under Section 132A of the Representation of the People’s Act, 1951, read with Rule 49-M, “the votes recorded by Shivakumar and his wife Usha be treated as invalid, since the two have voted in the same constituency in which Shivakumar is also a candidate and it is presumed that they have cast their votes in favour of Shivakumar.”

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(Published 07 May 2013, 20:42 IST)

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