Gujarat HC rejects plea seeking simultaneous counting of votes for two elections

Gujarat High Court on Friday rejected a petition filed by Congress leaders against the State Election Commission's decision of counting votes for municipal corporations before polls for district panchayats, taluka panchayat and municipalities are over. The petitioners had argued that such a move would influence the voters and "hamper the concept of free and fair election."

The division bench of the high court while rejecting the plea noted, "It is possible, and to a certain extent quite obvious, that the result of one part of the election may have its own influence on the second part of the election, but that by itself would not be sufficient to say that the election is not free and fair. It all depends on the individual voters how they look at it."

Refusing the relief to the petitioners, the bench said that had there been "credible material" to indicate that the commission was not acting independently, the court would have interfered "unhesitatingly."

"...it is not permissible for this court to take a view that the election programme declared by the State Election Commission is tainted with malafide or the same has been fixed at the instance of the ruling party in power, merely on the basis of the perception a common man carries in his mind about the independence of the State Election Commission," the order noted.

The bench referred to a paper which stated that voting behaviour in India is "very complex and unpredictable", and charisma, caste, religion, money, language, ideology, among others, are some factors that influence voting behaviour.

Polling for six corporation elections in the state will be held on February 21 and results will be declared on February 23. Voting for district panchayats, taluka panchayats and municipalities is scheduled for February 28 and results will be announced on March 2. All six corporations are BJP's stronghold while Congress has traditionally been strong in small towns and villages.