A journalist with a vernacular news channel was booked by Punjagutta police on Tuesday for allegedly creating ruckus and illegally detaining the election officer after the election results of Hyderabad Press Club (HPC) on March 13.
Election management officer M Hema Sundar Rao in his complaint told police that journalist Suraj V. Bharadwaj, who contested for HPC’s president post recently and lost, objected to the counting procedure and demanded recounting.
“Even after recounting, they found Bharadwaj had lost the election and further he objected to the use of two types of stamps on ballot papers similar to the presidency. Then the complainant went on to say that these symbols were used for the last two terms in the elections. But Bharadwaj and his followers got into an altercation without being heard,” police said.
They picked up the ballot box and poured water into it. When Mr. Rao tried to resist, the accused and his followers abused and detained him and his colleague M. Rangacharyulu (Assistant election officer).
“Apart from that, he was forced to conduct the elections again and detained Mr. Rao until he gave it in writing. As the returning officer for the presidential election, he tried to explain the detailed document in the presence of two candidates, but Bharadwaj’s followers grabbed the document and demanded that the election be halted,” Punjagutta police said.
Based on the complaint lodged by Mr. Rao, a case under Sections 341,506,427 r/w 34 of the Indian Penal Code was registered against Bharadwaj and a probe is on.
