Oleg Melnikov goes to court for cancellation of election results to State Duma in Makhachkala

Oleg Melnikov, who as a single-mandate candidate got a seat to the State Duma on the Northern single-mandate district of Dagestan, filed to the court a claim to the Kirov District Court of Makhachkala for cancellation of the results of the elections at three polling stations held on September 18.

At the recent court hearing held on November 27, the court was to examine journals with signatures of voters, reports Arsen Magomedov, an advocate of Oleg Melnikov. According to him, it was necessary to examine the lists of voters, since in his claim Oleg Melnikov expressed his doubts concerning the voter turnout.

The advocate has also noted that a member of the territorial election commission (TEC) for the Kirov District of Makhachkala submitted to the court a document, according to which, as a result of heavy rains that hit the capital of Dagestan on October 23-25, the basement of the Kirov administration building was flooded, and all the documents stored there were destroyed.

"The secretary of the Kirov TEC has brought to the court the allegedly destroyed documentation. All the papers were packed and wrapped with Scotch tape. She was sure that the documentation had been actually destroyed by water. However, when at the court hearing we unwrapped those books with lists of voters, it became clear that they were quite valid and readable, and only edges of the documents were tainted," said the advocate.

According to Arsen Magomedov, when the member of the TEC has realized that election documents can be read, she "seized them and quickly left the courtroom."

"We have appealed to the judge with a request about the need to study those documents, since they are important. However, the judge dismissed our request," noted the advocate.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.