CHANDIGARH: Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president and Lok Sabha MP Amarinder Singh Raja Warring on Monday approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court, seeking mandatory videography of the counting of votes for the Zila Parishad and Panchayat Block Samiti elections scheduled for December 17 across Punjab.
In a public interest litigation (PIL) filed through his counsel Nikhil Ghosh, Raja Warring said the petition had been moved to protect the purity, transparency and credibility of the election process in the state.
Appearing for the petitioner, Ghosh said the counting of votes is an integral and decisive stage of the election process and continues until the final results are declared. He argued that despite a settled legal position, mandatory videography of the counting process has not been implemented in previous zila parishad elections, leaving no objective or verifiable record of what he termed the most sensitive phase of the polls.
The petition further said that the absence of videography makes the process opaque, which could erode public confidence in democratic institutions. Raja Warring has sought directions from the High Court to ensure videography of the vote-counting process to maintain transparency and public trust in the electoral system.
