Election Commission officials on Tuesday submitted the documents related to the Bharatpur Metropolis vote counting row including the damaged ballot papers to the Supreme Court.

The apex court on June 20 directed the EC to produce the damaged ballot papers within a week. According to SC Spokesperson Mahendra Upadhyay, the poll authority confirmed that the EC handed in necessary documents. The hearing on the case has been scheduled for July 7.

A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Gopal Parajuli and Justice Hari Krishna Karki on June 20 ordered the EC to furnish the torn ballot papers. The court had also asked the constitutional body to attach the minutes of its decision to conduct re-polling and the papers related to the case against those involved in tearing up the ballots.

Bharatpur Chief Election Officer Kabi Prasad Neupane said all the documents and ballots demanded by the court were submitted on Monday. Challenging the EC’s decision to hold re-polling, Advocate Tulsiram Pandey and UML ward member candidate Gunjaman BK had filed a writ petition on June 4 demanding resumption of vote counting.

On June 3, the EC decided to go for re-polling at Ward 19 of the metropolis. As many as 90 ballot papers were torn allegedly by CPN (Maoist Centre) representatives at around 11:45pm on May 28 when the vote count was ongoing. CPN-UML mayoral candidate Devi Gyawali was ahead of Maoist Centre’s Renu Dahal in the mayoral race. The petitioners argue that the commission’s conclusion that the counting centre was under siege was erroneous.