Poll panel nod sought to declare Shettar’s victory

The district election officer was waiting till 9 pm on Tuesday to get approval from the Election Commission of India to declare Leader of Opposition in Assembly Jagadish Shettar, a winner from Hubballi-Dharwad Central constituency.

Though Shettar had registered a victory by a margin of 25,863 votes against Congress nominee Mahesh Nalwad, his win was not declared.

The poll officials said that during scrutiny of polled votes in EVM ballot unit and VVPAT machine, there was a difference of 50 votes.

The presiding officer had failed to delete the mock voting done before the voting had begun on Saturday. Hence, these votes had automatically got added to the polled votes. Thereby, there is a difference of votes in the EVM and VVPAT.

In the meantime, the Congress candidate raised an objection that there was a tampering of the voting machine and sought a detailed investigation.

Based on this objection, the DEO filed a petition with the state’s Chief Electoral Officer, who forwarded the petition to the Central Election Commission (CEC).

Until the CEC gives approval, the result of H-D Central constituency has been withheld, said officials.