Man found with ballot in Silchar; "Will take the strictest action against them right away," DC

In several places of the city of Silchar, after one week of the conclusion of polling, a few government officials bearing election commission cards are found collecting ballot papers. But when informed about the incident, Deputy Commissioner of Cachar Keerthi Jalli has said that these officials are not under any government duty currently and it’s not admissible to collect ballot papers late at night. She has informed that proper action would be taken against these officials found collecting ballot papers. But the real question that arises here, is there any deeper conspiracy going behind the scene under the pretext of collecting ballot papers?

On Thursday night around 9 pm, in Silchar’s Moulabi road two election officials presented at the residence of a certain individual for the sake of collecting ballot papers. Although one of them didn’t seem to possess any identity card but the other individual named Biswajit Dey Purkayastha did seem to possess an ID card of the Election Commission. It was mentioned in the card that he is a Senior Assistant of the Ballot Paper Cell. Further, it was also clearly mentioned in the card that he even possesses the clearance to enter the counting hall. An official of such high-level clearance is mysteriously going door to door late at night collecting ballot papers, but rather more than a week after the election seems certainly dangerous.

After he was grilled by a few local neighbours, he said that a higher-level election official had sent him to do such. But he wouldn’t even reveal the name of that official. After getting a bit irked by the incessant grilling, he said, “We work under the Deputy Commissioner, so she knows everything.”

When DC Keerthi Jalli was contacted, she said, “First of all, no such order of going over to people’s houses late at night to collect ballot papers were given. We have no information as to why these officials are moving at this hour. They are not on any official duty. We will take the strictest action against them right away and I’ll look into this matter personally to investigate the matter.”

On hearing upon the news, several members of the Congress party as well as some supporters of the independent candidate Dilip Kumar Paul rushed to the scene. Yuva Congress member Kushal Dutta said, “This isn’t the only instance of such incident, even yesterday and throughout today, several ballot collecting election officials were spotted in different parts of the city. The people of the city are alert and smart, hence these instances were caught. But in rural areas, there might be larger instances of such conspiracies going on even right now. If this is the process of election, how can we consider it as the ‘festival of democracy’? The ruling party knows that they can’t win in a clean honest manner, that’s why they’re indulging in such inexplicable ways.”

Sharing his reaction on the issue, Congress candidate from Silchar Tamal Kanti Banik says “I have faith in the district administration and I believe that the administration will do its duty. Such anomalies while conducting elections are not only worrisome but also puts the democracy at stake. It is my firm belief that the Cachar administration will take corrective measures to safeguard the sanctity of elections.”

It is worth mentioning that recently on behalf of the District Administration it has been requested to not share any fake unfounded news regarding ballot paper. But when government officials working under the District Administration are caught late at night secretly collecting ballot papers, does that not violate the sanctity of the election?