The Chitwan District Court has found representatives of the then CPN (Maoist Center) Madhukar Neupane and Drona Shiwakoti guilty of tearing ballots during the counting of votes after the local election in Bharatpur Metropolitan City.
A bench of district judge Murari Babu Shrestha ruled so on Thursday and the court will decide on the quantum of punishment on June 20. The court will announce the punishment on June 20 as per the provision of announcing guilt and punishment separately under the new Civil Code.
The duo can be fined up to Rs 100,000 each or jailed for up to two years or both as per the Election Offense and Punishment Act.
Police had arrested the two Maoist cadres after they tore the ballots on May 28, 2017 and lodged a case in the district court. They were later released on bail.
The Maoist representatives had allegedly torn 90 ballot papers at midnight on May 28 during the vote counting. Counting in 27 wards out of the 29 had been completed and counting of Ward 19 was underway at that time. CPN-UML's Devi Gyawali was leading Maoist Center’s Renu Dahal, daughter of the then Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, by around 700 votes with votes of the ward and Ward 20 remaining to be counted.
The Election Commission on June 3 decided to conduct re-election in Ward 19.
The decision was upheld by the Supreme Court on July 31, and re-election in the concerned ward was held on August 4, 2017.
Dahal defeated CPN-UML’s Gyawali by 203 votes following reelection in the ward.
