Ex-Conservative candidate Honveer Singh Randhawa launched a petition in B.C. Supreme Court in January seeking the overturn of an election result.
Conservative Leader John Rustad has renewed calls for an inquiry into the outcome of the Surrey-Guildford race during last October’s provincial election, and is relying, in part, on an affidavit from the Green candidate in that riding to support his bid.
The key allegation involves Argyll Lodge, a mental-health and addictions facility, with Tory candidate Honveer Singh Randhawa saying in January that he had evidence that 21 mail-in ballots were cast from the facility despite it being located directly across the street from a polling station.
He also presented affidavits from multiple residents who had come forward to say that they had been told who to vote for by staff members and that they hadn’t even known a provincial election was happening.
Randhawa lost the vote by 22 ballots in a result that gave the NDP a one-seat majority government. He has filed a petition in B.C. Supreme Court seeking to have the result overturned, alleging he found 45 votes with irregularities.
“The lodge, the person who’s running that said Elections B.C. has been giving them the ballots by bulk every election. Elections B.C. says, ‘No, We don’t do that.’ There are serious irregularities that have happened during this election,” said Rustad, who also accused Elections B.C. of being “asleep at the switch.”
He also renewed his call for an independent investigation into the handling of the election by Elections B.C., saying it’s needed to renew faith in the organization.
The affidavit from Green candidate Manjeet Singh Sahota said he was told by a staff member while canvassing that residents of the lodge don’t participate in voting as they’re sick. As a result he said he didn’t leave any campaign materials at the facility and didn’t go back during the rest of the campaign.
In a news release, the Greens said they’re aware of their former candidate’s affidavit and that “we will refrain from drawing conclusions until all evidence has been thoroughly examined.”
Elections B.C. has halted its investigation into the case until the court proceedings have concluded, which Rustad questioned.
NDP House Leader Ravi Kahlon accused Rustad of using similar tactics to U.S. President Donald Trump in trying to overturn the election.
He also presented affidavits that the NDP have filed that allege a Tory organizer ran a financial scam on two residents at the lodge and tricked them into signing the affidavits stating that they had been coerced into voting for the NDP. Public Safety Minister Garry Begg said the organizer succeeded in moving one of the residents out of the facility, who was found by police in a state of “psychosis.” He remains in a secure unit at a local hospital.
Kahlon also said the staff member of Argyll Lodge that the Conservatives accuse of carrying out the illegal ballot operation actually voted for Rustad’s party.
“John Rustad has been using this Trump-style playbook to dispute an election that he lost, and he’s using innocent people’s lives as collateral for his ambitions. I’m disturbed by this, and I find it quite frankly sickening,” said Kahlon.
None of the allegations brought forward by either the Conservatives or the NDP have been proven in court.
With files from The Canadian Press