Returning Officer begins action after objection on Avtar Henry’s vote

JALANDHAR: After an objection raised by an area resident over the process of reissuing of voting right to former Congress minister Avtar Henry from the Jalandhar North constituency the Returning Officer RO has begun action on it

Updated At : 07:02 AM Dec 17, 2016 IST

Former Congress MLA Avtar Henry

Deepkamal Kaur

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, December 16

After an objection raised by an area resident over the process of re-issuing of voting right to former Congress minister Avtar Henry from the Jalandhar (North) constituency, the Returning Officer (RO) has begun action on it.

RO-cum-Deputy Director Local Bodies Barjinder Singh has asked the parties concerned, including Henry, Regional Passport Officer, Assistant RO and supervisor of the constituency and the booth level officer, to give their comments on the matter by December 23.

While the matter was being originally raked up by complainant Ajay Sehgal (who hails from the Jalandhar Cantonment constituency), the election office could act only after an objection over the vote was raised by a resident of the Jalandhar (North) constituency.

In a communiqué to Henry, the RO has asked him as to why his vote issued by the office should not cancelled. It reads, “Neeraj Kumar, a complainant from Dhan Mohalla, has raised an objection via form No. 7 over your vote which came up on the orders of Paramjit Singh Sahota, District Revenue Officer-cum-Assistant Returning Officer, on November 3 during the revision of electoral rolls. He has demanded that your vote be cancelled. This vote has been made on the basis of your passports issued on November 11, 2014 and July 20, 2016.”

He has also referred to the cancellation of his vote on November 30, 2012, on the orders of the Ministry of Home Affairs. “Your passport and licences too have been cancelled. Do the orders of the Ministry of Home Affairs still stand against you?” he has been questioned.

In the second communiqué issued by the RO to Regional Passport Officer Harmanbir Singh Gill, the RO has cited the same complaint and apprised him of the fact that the previous Indian passport of Henry had been cancelled by his office on the orders of the Ministry of Home Affairs, GOI, on November 30, 2012. He has been asked if the same orders of the ministry issued on August 16, 2012, still stand. “The passport can be issued only to an Indian citizen. Is Henry a citizen of India? Please give your comments latest by December 23. The matter be taken on priority,” the RO has written.

The third communication of the RO to Sahota mentions that the vote had been cancelled on the orders of previous RO Pritam Singh. In this letter it has also been mentioned, “It has come to my knowledge that the orders of the Ministry of Home Affairs are still valid and have not been cancelled.

The fourth letter has been issued to Rajneesh Dogra, XEN, MC-cum-supervisor of the constituency and BLO Rajinder Pal Singh. They too have been asked to comment on the matter.