HC allows collector to break open strongrooms in Dharmapuri segment

HYDERABAD: In a bid to put to rest an ongoing row over two missing strongroom keys in the Dharmapuri Assembly constituency, in a case of vote counting irregularity, the Telangana High Court on Wednesday ordered the collector of Jagtial district to break open the strongrooms.

The directions were issued over a petition filed by Aduluri Laxman, a Congress candidate, who lost the 2018 election to Koppula Eshwar of the BRS by 441 votes. Subsequently, he moved the court over irregularities in counting and over the course of the case, it was found that the keys to the strongrooms at VRK College of Engineering and Technology in Nookapally village of Jagtial were missing.

The High Court then ordered the Election Commission of India to probe the matter, following which a team of officials have been making rounds of the constituency over the past few days, but to no avail. The district collector of Jagtial then filed an interim application to break the locks as the keys were lost.

In its directions on Wednesday, the High Court also directed the collector and election officer to ensure the presence of political parties’ representatives while breaking open the lock. The documents will then be handed over to the returning officer, who will submit them in court.

Laxman, however, objected to the court order, with his counsel, D.K. Jaiswal, contending that the collector was aware that the keys were misplaced, as of March 29.

Jaiswal contended that as the collector, who is also the election officer, had engaged a locksmith and a carpenter previously, it could be presumed that she was aware of the fact and played fraud by failing to bring it to the court’s notice.

However, the court dismissed the submissions, stating that the collector had already informed the court about the same on an earlier occasion. Further, she had said that the ECI committee was formed to probe the issue of missing keys and that she would submit a report on the same to the court.