Kichha, Sirauli Kalan municipal polls: Votes to be counted on Wednesday, October 7, on Supreme Court order

Votes in the Kichha and Sirauli Kalan municipal elections will be counted on Wednesday, October 7, on the orders of the Supreme Court. Both municipalities voted on September 22 and counting was due on September 24, but after a row over a curtain hung in front of the ballot boxes in Kichha, MLA Tilak Raj Behad and former MLA Rajesh Shukla and their supporters came face to face at the strong room. After the uproar and scuffles, the administration put off the count citing security. The Nainital High Court directed that votes be counted within three weeks, after which Alina Malik and others, on behalf of the Congress candidate, moved the Supreme Court seeking an early count. Hearing the case on Monday, the Supreme Court rejected the state government's plea for two more weeks and asked for a full report on the counting, on affidavit, by Saturday. The court asked how votes could be counted in Assembly elections if a municipal count could not be held. In Kichha, the main contest for chairperson is between Rajesh Pratap Singh of the Congress and Sandeep Arora of the BJP. (Source: Amar Ujala, ETV Bharat)