Repolling at booth 32 in Chandni Chowk held as presiding officer "tried to manipulate" data

The presiding officer at polling station number 32 in Chandni Chowk Parliamentary constituency "tried to manipulate" voting data to hide his mistake of not deleting mock poll votes, necessitating repolling there, officials said Monday.

The Election Commission had directed disciplinary action against the presiding officer and ordered repoll which was held on May 19, officials said.

It was found that the presiding officer tried to manipulate the details filled in performa 17 A to hide his mistake of not deleting mock poll data on May 12, officials said.

"It was discovered that he (the presiding officer) had tried to adjust the votes cast during mock polls and added them to the data of the votes cast during actual polls (on May 12) but this came to the notice of the returning officer, who mentioned it in her report to the Chief Electoral Officer, Delhi. The report was forwarded to EC, which directed disciplinary action against the officer," an official said.

On the day of repoll, polling station 32 registered a voter turnout of 42.14 per cent.

He said the presiding officer could have escaped a punishment with the error of not deleting mock votes but he tried to manipulate data which is a grave offence.

"He filled in wrong details in the performa. He has been issued a showcause notice and strict disciplinary action will be initiated against him," he added.

The district election officer has also issued a showcause notice to the polling party, seeking a reply about why the data of mock polls was not deleted.

Mock poll is carried out before actual polling to test whether an EVM is working properly and at least 50 test votes are cast, one for each candidate.