General Election to the House of the People from 7- Chapra Parliamentary Constituency in the State of Bihar - Order
	19:12 IST

The President of India, by notification under sub-section (2) of section 14 of the Representation of the People Act 1951 published in the Gazette of India on 31st March, 2004, called upon, among others, 17 Parliamentary constituencies, including 7-Chapra Parliamentary Constituency, in the State of Bihar to elect members for the purpose of constituting the 14th Lok Sabha. 2. In pursuance of the provisions of the said Act, the Election Commission, vide its notification no. 464/2004 (2), dated 31st March, 2004, appointed, with respect to the said election from 7-Chapra Parliamentary Constituency, the 26th April, 2004 as the date on which a poll shall, if necessary, be taken. 3. Poll was accordingly taken on 26th April, 2004, as scheduled, at all the 1157 polling stations in the said 7-Chapra Parliamentary Constituency. 4. On the day of poll, the Commission started receiving a large number of complaints from very early morning about booth capturing and violence at several polling stations in the constituency. These complaints alleged booth capturing and violence due to lack of effective arrangements for maintenance of law and order, complicity and partisan conduct of election related officers and police authorities, inadequate arrangements of supervising the poll, ineffective utilization of Central Paramilitary Forces in the said constituency, etc.. In particular, there were allegations of complicity and/or connivance on the part of police officers and election related officers and total inaction on the complaints being made to them about the alleged booth capturing and violence. 5. The reports received by the Commission from its Observers appointed and assigned to the said 7-Chapra Parliamentary Constituency also substantiated some of these complaints and allegations. The Commission also saw for itself several incidents of violence and disturbance of polling by miscreants on the electronic media which presented an unpleasant and none-too-happy situation prevailing in the Constituency which was not conducive to the holding of free and fair poll. 6. Not satisfied with the reports of the Returning Officer and other official sources recommending fresh poll at only a few polling stations in the constituency and attempting to paint a picture that the polling in the constituency was by and large peaceful barring a few incidents here and there, the Commission decided, in view of large number of complaints, to depute a special team of two officers from the Commission’s own Secretariat, comprising Shri Anand Kumar, Principal Secretary-cum-Director to the Election Commission, and Shri K.J. Rao, Advisor to the Election Commission, for visiting the constituency and making an on-the-spot inquiry into the complaints of booth capturing and violence. 7. The said team of S/Sh. Anand Kumar and K.J. Rao visited Chapra on 2nd & 3rd May, 2004 and made a detailed inquiry into the said complaints with a view to ascertaining the facts and assessing the damage done to the purity of the process of election in the said constituency because of the alleged incidents of booth capturing and violence. After its return, the team could submit its report to the Commission on 9th May, 2004, as one of the members of the team had to be again urgently deployed by the Commission to the State of Jammu and Kashmir to supervise the polling which was due to be taken in some parts of that State on 5th May, 2004. 8. The Commission has perused the report of the inquiry team. The report shows that all the contesting candidates were given a notice in writing by the Returning Officer about the team’s visit to the constituency and they were duly informed that they would be heard by the team at 2.00 pm on 2nd May, 2004 in the office of the Returning Officer at Chapra. Out of 9 contesting candidates in the constituency, 6 contesting candidates namely, Shri Lalu Prasad Yadav (Rashtriya Janata Dal candidate), Shri Rajeev Pratap Rudi (Bharatiya Janata Party candidate), Shri Abhay Raj Kishore Rai (Bahujan Samaj Party candidate), Shri Bachchu Prasad (Samajwadi Party candidate), Shri Manoranjan Ku. Shrivastava (Independent candidate) and Shri Brajesh Kumar (Independent candidate) appeared before the team with their authorised representatives/counsel, and they were duly heard by the team. The team also made field inquiries and examined and inspected the relevant records pertaining to the poll taken in the constituency on 26th April, 2004. 9. The Commission has also perused the reports of the Returning Officer and the Commission’s four Observers appointed for the constituency. 10. Further, the Commission also heard Shri Rajeev Pratap Rudi and Shri Lalu Prasad Yadav, at their request, in the Commission’s Sectt. at New Delhi on 28th April, and 8th May, 2004 respectively. Wheareas Shri Rudy alleged that the poll in the entire parliamentary constituency was vitiated due to booth capturing and violence by Shri Lalu Prasad Yadav and his supporters, particularly his brother-in-law Shri Subhas Yadav, it was alleged by Shri Lalu Prasad Yadav that the poll in some of the polling stations was vitiated due to booth capturing by the BJP candidate and his supporters, but added that the poll in the constituency was by and large peaceful. 11. On a careful consideration and analysis of the aforesaid reports of the inquiry team, the Commission’s Observers and the Returning Officer, the Commission is of the considered unanimous opinion that the poll taken on 26th April, 2004 in 7-Chapra Parliamentary Constituency could not be said to be a free and fair poll. There were no proper and adequate security arrangements for maintaining a peaceful atmosphere in the constituency conducive to the holding of free and fair poll. The explanation of the Returning Officer (District Magistrate), DIG, SP and other senior police officers is that they were not provided with adequate Central Paramilitary Forces (CPMFs) and other police forces which hampered their arrangements for providing the required security at the polling stations and to the polling personnel and ensure a peaceful atmosphere in the constituency creating a sense of confidence in the minds of the electorate to come and cast their votes without fear. But the reports of the inquiry team and the Commission’s Observers show, on the other hand, that even the allegedly insufficient CPMFs were not properly deployed as per the Commission’s directions and instructions on the subject and many of these police forces were found by the Observers sleeping in Police Lines awaiting deployment till the mid-day on the date of poll. In many cases, they were idling away their time as no transport arrangements were in place for their transportation to the place of their deployment. These reports also show that as per the deployment plan drawn up by the Police authorities, no provision was made for the posting of even Home Guards at several polling stations in the constituency. This corroborates and establishes the complaints made to the Commission and also to the Commission’s team during its field visit to several villages that there was an atmosphere of free for all at their polling stations and the miscreants had an unobstructed field-day to capture the booths. All the contesting candidates, except one independent candidate, who appeared before the inquiry team at Chapra on 2nd May, 2004, made complaints and counter complaints against each other of having resorted to violence and booth capturing. The Commission does not wish to give any finding here as to who caused damage to the purity of the polling process and vitiated the poll and to what extent or to apportion blame on them for causing such damage to the purity of the election. That will be for the Police authorities and other investigating agencies to find out the real culprits, as several FIRs are stated to have been lodged by the candidates and their workers and supporters about the booth capturing and violence perpetrated by their rivals, by even resorting to throwing of bombs in some cases. For the purposes of the Commission, it is sufficient to hold that the poll was vitiated by booth capturing on a large scale in an atmosphere of terror and intimidation prevailing in the constituency on the day of poll which not only provided an opportunity to the miscreants to indulge in booth capturing but also created a sense of fear in the minds of the electorate which discouraged or prevented them from coming to the polling stations to exercise their franchise without fear. The Commission strongly condemns and deprecates the malpractices and rigging indulged in by the candidates and their supporters undermining the democratic process of election. 12. The report of the inquiry team also reveals a very shocking state of affairs where even the polling personnel connived with one party or the other to rig the poll in their favour. They were apparently so over-awed that they did not take courage to report true facts in their reports and diaries and became a party to the silent rigging with their connivance. The manner in which the Voters’ Registers in Form 17A were manipulated by them, so as to cover their misconduct at the polling stations, examples of which are galore in the report of the inquiry team, is a clear manifestation of their complicity and connivance in the booth capturing and vitiation of poll conducted by them. These polling personnel obviously thought that these Registers would not be opened or inspected by anyone after the close of poll and that their misdeeds would remain undetected. 13. In view of the above, and having regard to the totality of facts and circumstances as available to the Commission on the basis of the report of the inquiry team specially deputed by it to Chapra as aforesaid, reports of the Commission’s Observers and the Returning Officer and the shocking state of law and order situation as seen by the Commission on the electronic media personally on the day of poll, the Commission is fully convinced and totally satisfied that the poll taken on the 26th April, 2004 in 7-Chapra Parliamentary Constituency was vitiated because of booth capturing in a large number of polling stations in all the Assembly segments of the constituency and that it is likely to affect the result of the election in the said constituency. 14. Therefore, the Commission, in exercise of its plenary powers of superintendence, direction and control of elections vested in it by Article 324 of the Constitution, sections 58 A (2) and 58 (2) read with section 135A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, and all other powers enabling it in this behalf, hereby declares the poll taken on the 26th April, 2004 at all the polling stations in 7-Chapra Parliamentary Constituency as null and void and countermands the said poll. Fresh poll shall be taken at all the polling stations in the said constituency on 31st May, 2004 (Monday), under strict security arrangements for which suitable directions shall be issued by the Commission separately. Also, for all other consequential steps and measures necessary to be taken for ensuring free and fair fresh poll, the Commission shall issue suitable directions separately.