Election Commission rejects re-poll recommendation for 13 panchayat wards

AFTER RE-COUNTING, 11 WARDS GO TO SDF, 02 TO INDEPENDENTS
GANGTOK, 07 Nov: In what can be called an anti climax of sorts, the haunt for some and excitement of a re-poll for others in some panchayat wards, has disappeared without as much as a whimper from those having first demanded it. There will be no re-polling in the 13 panchayat wards as earlier hinted.
The State Election Commission has upheld the contention of the Returning Officer, East,  D Anandan that the confusion in these wards during counting day, 05 November, was the result of a minor clerical error and that the recording and counting of votes in the EVMs had not been vitiated in any way. The Election Commission today then directed the Returning Officer to recheck the records in the EVMs pertaining to the 13 wards, recount the votes in the presence of the contesting candidates or their counting agents and declare the results immediately.
Consequently, the candidates were informed who then gathered at the TNA hall where recounting was done in their presence. The results were declared and the RO, D Anandan further told the candidates that should they feel further unsatisfied or aggrieved they could forward their grievance in writing. As per the recounting of votes the SDF took 11 of the 13 wards; Independent candidates got two wards, namely Tindharey/ Kali Khola and Naya Basti.

The results after the re-count for 13 Panchayat wards of East Sikkim the results for which were withheld on 05 Nov 2012

Gram Panchayat Wards	Name of Winning Candidates	Party affiliation
01-3 Middle Sumin (Sumin Gumpa)	Champa Doma Bhutia	SDF
02-6 Bordang	Ganga Darjee	SDF
03-3 Cheuribotey	Lachi Maya Chettri	SDF
03-4 Duga	Kaushila Pradhan	SDF
04-3 Kaiyong	Nimkit Lepcha	SDF
04-4 Tindharey/Kalikhola	Chewang Yonzen Tamang	Independent
04-5 Upper Bhasmey	Binita Tamang	SDF
06-1 Naya Basti	Bhawani Shanker Gurung	Independent
06-2 East Dikling	Oma Wangyal Lepcha	SDF
06-4  Lossing	Durga Chettri	SDF
06-5 Dikling Pacheykhani	Hemant Kumar Dahal	SDF
06-6 Pacheykhani	Munna Bhusal	SDF
06-8: Rorathang Bazaar	Pranesh Pradhan	SDF

The DC, East also addressed the press and explained that the confusion was due to the sequence of names of candidates in the counting sheet not tallying with the sequence of names in the ballot paper. He however clarified that the machines or the counting process had not been tampered with; in fact recounting had been done then itself on 05 November in the presence of the candidates who had been recalled after the error had been noticed. 

However, in light of the situation on the morning of 05 November outside the counting hall where a number of candidates and their supporters had gathered to demand re-poll in the entire district and the threat of a law and order problem a report was sent to the State Election Commission regarding the error along with the recommendation for a re-poll in the 13 panchayat wards – as per the demand of the Independent candidates and their supporters. The results of these 13 wards had been withheld.
The matter was taken up by the SEC and today it issued its order which reads “… there was a simple mistake occurred while transferring of the results from the EVMs to the result sheet… The transferring of results inadvertently has not vitiated the counting and the records of votes in the EVMs have not been tampered”.
The Commission records that there is no sufficient ground for a re-poll and further that there were objections and claims received in writing for a re-poll by the contesting candidates. As such the RO was directed to proceed with recounting of votes. This proceeded smoothly today and concluded at around 1:30 PM. It may even be noted that a number of candidates were not too keen on a re-poll due to obvious reasons.
While concluding the election results for East District, the DC, East thanked all concerned and expressed gratitude to the SEC and Election Observor, SK Shilal for their support and guidance. He also thanked the SSP, MS Tuli and his team for helping in defusing the situation on 05 November. Apart from thanking the presiding and polling officers, the DC East also thanked the TNA authorities for making available their hall for counting of votes.