There is yet another twist in the ongoing saga of last October’s provincial election.
In an exclusive interview with 1130 NewsRadio, the losing BC Conservatives candidate in Surrey-Guildford, Honveer Randhawa, says he’s retaining legal counsel to push back against Elections BC after the agency announced it was pausing its investigation into alleged voter tampering.
On Tuesday, the electoral body shared that the “allegations in Mr. Randhawa’s January 3 complaint to Elections BC are substantively the same as the allegations made in the court petition.”
“In order to preserve the integrity of the court proceeding, Elections BC is suspending its review of Mr. Randhawa’s complaint pending the outcome of the petition. The court will determine when the petition is heard,” it added.
That’s not sitting well with Randhawa.
“My petition is asking the election be held invalid because contraventions have happened.”
Randhawa doesn’t think Elections BC is upholding the integrity of the election or doing its job, and he feels dismissed.
“Their actions have, if nothing, delayed justice — not for me, but for British Columbians, too, because they are running away from their obligation,” he explained.
“It is their inherent job to investigate complaints or infractions. I raised my concerns, but they still refused to give me any breakdown as to who voted how, so that made our job 10 times harder.”
He says he has already spent between $25,000 to $30,000 of his own money through the process.
“That is absurd to expect that from a candidate. It’s very disheartening, disappointing given how serious these infractions appear to be.”
The alleged voting irregularities, as the party has described it, mainly surround a health care facility in Surrey. Randhawa says it’s located right across from a voting station, and he claims he has evidence of vote tampering. Randhawa lost the riding by 22 votes to the BC NDP’s candidate. He states the number of invalid votes linked to the facility is 21.
“We’re just saying the wrong voting happened, and we need to get the bottom of this because the fact of the matter is that at the end of the day, the judge has to determine are these infractions strong enough, deep enough, that the election would be invalid,” he stated.
“It is their duty, too, to make sure if an election has been won on wrongfully received votes that they should bring forward that evidence to the court and not just withhold it by saying they’re suspending an investigation, which they’re doing.”
The riding is getting so much attention because it tipped the scales for the BC NDP to form a majority government.
While he secures a lawyer, Randhawa explains he’s looking at two options: filing a petition for a judicial review or an application to try and force Elections BC to resume the current investigation.
“My main contention with Elections BC is they should have done their job as a non-partisan party. They should have stated their findings and then it’s up to the judge how much weight the judge puts on those findings, but now, this puts the integrity into question. I’m very unhappy about this.”
Randhawa is adamant he won’t give up but admits he may run out of money to continue pursuing legal action.
“Do I believe the final outcome could be positive? Definitely, because the infractions we brought forward are close to 46 and the gap is 22.”
Meanwhile, the BC Conservatives say Randhawa filed a complaint with the RCMP earlier this month regarding the enforcement of the Elections Act. Randhawa tells 1130 NewsRadio that he did not and believes the party is handling that complaint. However, he does clarify that his office reached out to the Mounties to gain access to speak to people at the health care facility.
“The RCMP does not typically confirm or deny any investigation, nor do we release specific details about any investigation, until such time as charges have been laid,” said Staff Sgt. Kris Clark in an email to 1130.
Elections BC tells 1130 NewsRadio it never directed the RCMP to get involved.
“We have not asked the RCMP to investigate any of the concerns raised about voting irregularities in Surrey-Guildford,” the electoral body shared.