EC orders fresh poll in Visakhapatnam

The Election Commission of India on Tuesday countermanded the February 19 byelection to Visakhapatnam-One assembly constituency, taking a serious view of the "shocking incidents of bribing of voters with cash and liquor and breach of the Model Code of Conduct."

The Election Commission ordered fresh poll in the constituency on March 25. The decision was taken in the wake of alleged violations of election code by some Congress leaders.

A full meeting of the Election Commission headed by Chief Election Commissioner B B Tandon passed the order.

The Election Commission order stated it was "fully convinced and totally satisfied that the poll on February 19 was vitiated because of large scale distribution of money, liquor and other commodities."

The order said the bypoll saw "breach of code by several parties and their workers to woo voters to vote in favour of their candidates in a large number of polling areas in the entire constituency."

Noting that this has certainly affected the fairness of the election, the EC said the state administration had failed to check these "unlawful acts" of the parties and their workers and supporters.