A panel formed by the Election Commission (EC) to probe into the Bharatpur Metropolitan City vote counting disruption submitted its report on Wednesday but failed to shed enough light on the incident, prompting the poll body to instruct the chief election commissioner of Chitwan to send a new report mentioning the exact number of ballot papers that were torn on Sunday night.

When counting was underway for ward no 19, some CPN (Maoist Centre) cadres had allegedly torn ballot papers at around midnight on Sunday, resulting in halt of vote counting. The torn ballot papers have been secured in a sealed bag. 

CPN-UML’s Devi Acharya and Maoist Centre’s Renu Dahal are vying for the post of Bharatpur mayor. Renu is daughter of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal. 

The EC has asked the chief election officer to count torn ballot paperse in the presence of concerned stakeholders. The EC said in a press release that it has asked the election officer of Bharatpur to open the sealed container in which the torn ballot papers have been secured and count them in the presence of candidates from the concerned ward, chief district officer, chief of District Police Office, and the candidates for the posts of mayor and deputy mayor and their representatives.

An EC official said a decision on whether to conduct re-polling or resume counting could not be taken on Wednesday due to lack of information on the status of torn ballot papers. 

“We may get the details by Thursday,” he said. The EC probe team led by Geeta Prasad Timsina, joint attorney general at the election body, formed on Monday was tasked to investigate into the incident and submit its report on Wednesday. The team could not confirm the number of ballot papers that have been torn, according to a source. 

The UML has been protesting against the vote counting incident from the streets and Parliament. It has called for immediate resumption of vote counting. UML’s Acharya was slightly leading when the ballot papers were torn allegedly by Maoist members on Sunday midnight. The UML’s district committee has announced Chitwan banda on Thursday. 

Meanwhile, Renu on Wednesday filed an application at the office of the chief election officer, demanding re-election in ward 19.