The decision of the State Election Commission(SEC) to recommend to the Governor Syed Ahmad to cancel the Mayoral polls in Ranchi may be challenged by a group of citizens in Jharkhand.

Most of them were residents of the state capital.They point out that they will move the Jharkhand High Court after the Governor gives his nod to its recommendation.

Their stand is based on their contention that a day before the Mayoral polls,the police and the Income Tax sleuths had recovered cash sum of Rs 21.90 lakh from three bags in a Ranchi hotel room booked by the Congress’s state unit secretary.

Later,though the police had booked the Congress secretary and his pal and sent them to jail,indicating the Congress leader and Ranchi MP Subodh Kant Sahay and his brother Sunil,who were backing the Ranchi Mayor Rama Khalkho,were in thick of the charge that they were the source of the seized cash that was planned to be paid to the polling booth managers of Khalkho.

As if this was not a crime,the SEC deemed it fit to allow the polling process to continue.And when the polls were held,the counting was withheld.Subsequently,after the results of other municipal posts were announced,the SEC recommended cancellation of the mayoral polls.

“This move of the SEC violates Natural Justice”,thunders Ramanandan Singh.” If a candidate had bungled and used unfair means,she should have been penalized.”,he observed and added:”the SEC has the power to cancel the polls.But it ought to have cancelled it even before the polls were held”,argued Singh who is planning to file a PIL.

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