Cuttack, March 30: Franchise exercised in 51 polling booths in Salipur Assembly constituency during the Vidhan Sabha elections in April 2009 came under scrutiny by way of sample verification today following orders of Orissa High Court.

It was the first scrutiny of its kind in an election case since the introduction of electronic voting machines (EVM). The court had ordered the scrutiny while adjudicating a petition challenging the election of Salipur BJD MLA Chandrasarathi Behera, son of former minister Kalindi Behera.

Prakash Chandra Behera, a Congress candidate who had lost from the Salipur seat by 1,277 votes, had filed the petition. Prakash had challenged Chandrasarathi’s election alleging tampering of EVMs and falsification of votes in the name of those who were either absent or dead. He had also alleged that mock poll, though mandatory at the booth level, had not been conducted in several cases.

“The sample verification was conducted in the presence of registrar (judicial) D.K. Mohanty. Its findings will form the basis of the final hearing tomorrow and the outcome of the case,” Prakash Behera’s counsel Bidyadhar Mishra told The Telegraph.

Official sources said the sample verification involved 25 per cent of polling in the 51 booths. Election rules prescribe that in the event a mock poll is not conducted in a booth, it will be deemed that polling had not been held in the booth.

Earlier, the high court had directed the returning officer for Salipur Assembly constituency to preserve the EVMs. Apart from safeguarding the EVMs used in the constituency, the Cuttack district election officer had, in pursuance of the court order, submitted documents related to polling in 213 polling booths.

When the case came up for hearing yesterday, a petition for scrutiny of votes in the 213 votes was filed on behalf of the petitioner. Verification is imperative to ascertain whether a mock poll was conducted at the booth level or not, it was argued. “The single-judge bench of Justice R.N. Biswal had ordered conducting the sample verification of 51 booths at 11am on March 30 in the presence of the high court’s registrar (judicial) after counsels of both parties agreed on it,” Mishra said.

The high court is adjudicating two other election cases involving two other Assembly constituencies — Bhubaneswar (Central) in Khurda district and Champua in Keonjhar district. Both the petitions had also broadly alleged tampering with EVMs during polling and post-polling stage.

Sanatan Mahakud, one of the independent candidates who had contested for the Champua seat, had challenged the election of MLA Jitu Patnaik alleging tampering of EVMs and had sought their inspection.