Suresh Sonthalia and team allege irregularities in Singhbhum Chamber polls

Jamshedpur, October 16: The recent elections of Singhbhum Chamber of Commerce, the largest organization of entrepreneurs and businessmen in Kolhan, looks mired in controversy.

The team of Suresh Sonthalia and Bharat Vasani, who faced defeat in this election, have made serious allegations in a press conference at Rajasthan Bhawan in Bistupur, Jamshedpur.

They have alleged that voting was done by entering fake e-mail IDs of many companies. Apart from this, it was also told that many secrets have also been violated and all these was done with the connivance of the election officials of the chamber.

Their allegation is that voting has to be conducted through protected means as per the Companies Act.

They alleged that in the meeting held with the candidates by the scrutinizer of CDSL, it was informed that OTP will be available only on the registered mobile number. On the contrary, OTP was received through e-mail. Because of this, many other people voted instead of the authorized voters. These people alleged how people were pressured to vote in front of them.

According to the Chamber Constitution, changes in the voter list can be made only till July 31. The final working committee decided that it should be extended till 4 September. This change was also to be done on the basis of written application only.

The voter list has to be signed by the General Secretary and hung on the notice board one day before the start of the election process, and a copy of the same has to be provided to any candidate on demand by paying a fixed amount.

On September 10, Satyanarayan Aggarwal Munna of Suresh Sonthalia team obtained this list by paying an amount of Rs 590. No list was hung on the notice board. From September 5 to September 19, the day the list was last provided to the election officials, a large number of changes were made in the voter list. This figure is 178 members.

“When the election officials had completed their work as soon as the elections were announced, then why was this list given to them on the last day. These people alleged that to their knowledge this list was given to election officials twice. When they got information about post-election fraud, they applied to the scrutinizer to provide them the list which was officially handed over to them and they sent the list to CDSL.

They claimed that after thorough investigation, it was revealed that fake e-mail IDs of many members were created. Many renowned establishments including Tata group companies are also included in this.

In this, no letter was even sent to Tata Steel companies for voting. At the same time, the list of about 12 companies like Telegraph Company, Jemco, TRF has been made public and votes for four companies each have been cast through a mail, its official list has been given.

Suresh Sonthalia said that he wants Vijay Moonka and his entire team to apologize for this and resign on moral grounds. A special general body meeting should be called to decide on the issue.

Allegation baseless: Moonka

Jamshedpur:  Newly- elected president of Singhbhum Chamber of Commerce and Industries (SCCI) Vijay Anand Moonka, said that making such allegations after losing is a childish act and is a baseless allegation.

“It is wrong to give information about 10 to 12 cases and demand cancellation of the election or demand resignation where the victory or defeat margin was 200.