The Supreme Court on Wednesday pulled up the Election Commission of India over its inability to trace the video recording of the counting in Karnataka’s Sringeri Assembly constituency in 2023, stressing that it would not accept “lame excuses”.
The case concerns the counting in Karnataka’s Sringeri Assembly constituency in 2023 and a recount this year.
The court questioned how the poll body could say it had lost records of an election it had conducted. Following the recount, the Returning Officer announced a revised result in which Jeevaraj was declared the winner. The bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and Sanjeev Sachdeva expressed strong displeasure after the counsel for the Election Commission informed the court that the footage of the original counting could not be traced. The court directed the Commission to produce whatever records it has at the next hearing, warning that it could draw an adverse inference if the documents were not produced. The court was hearing a plea filed by Congress leader TD Rajegowda, who has challenged the revised election result for the Sringeri constituency. Rajegowda then approached the Supreme Court challenging the development.
Rajegowda had initially won the seat in the 2023 Karnataka Assembly elections. The high court later directed a recount of postal ballots, including the reverification of 279 rejected postal votes.
The result was subsequently challenged by BJP candidate Jeevaraj before the Karnataka High Court.
