Elections BC Suspends Review of Conservative’s Complaint, Citing Supreme Court Petition

Signage seen at the Elections BC office in Victoria, B.C., on Sept. 25, 2024. The Canadian Press/Chad Hipolito

Elections BC announced it has suspended its review of a complaint from a Conservative candidate alleging voting irregularities in a Surrey riding during the October election, saying the Supreme Court is considering a similar claim.

On Jan. 9, the B.C. Conservatives asked Elections BC to investigate alleged potential violations of the Election Act in the Surrey-Guildford riding, where NDP candidate Garry Begg beat Honveer Singh Randhawa by just 22 votes in the provincial election.

Elections BC said Randhawa’s Jan. 3 complaint was “under review” on Jan. 9.

However, on Jan. 28 the organization said Randhawa had filed a petition with the Supreme Court of British Columbia on Jan. 13, which sought a judicial declaration that the election of Begg is invalid.

“The allegations in Mr. Randhawa’s January 3 complaint to Elections BC are substantively the same as the allegations made in the court petition,” Elections BC said in a statement. “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.”

Elections BC said it would consider whether to resume its review of the complaint after the judiciary had ruled on the petition.

During a press conference on Jan. 9, Randhawa said his party found a total of 45 voting irregularities in the riding, which was larger than the 22-vote margin of victory for the NDP in Surrey-Guildford. The win gave the NDP an electoral majority of 47 seats, compared to the Conservatives’ 44 seats.

B.C. Conservative Party Leader John Rustad said earlier this month his party had also heard of instances of non-citizens voting in the election, and a person who was unable to vote because someone had already voted in their name.

Rustad also mentioned an incident where at least two dozen ballots were cast by people “whose place of residence that was on Elections BC is not where they currently live.”

The BC Conservatives have also asked the RCMP to investigate “voting irregularities” centred around an addictions and recovery facility in the Surrey-Guildford riding. The party alleged there had been “serious inconsistencies” around the vote in the riding.

The BC Conservatives said in a release that 21 mail-in votes were cast from Argyll Lodge, which has a capacity of 25 beds and is located 80 metres from the nearest polling station. The statement says one resident said they were told how to complete their mail-in ballot package by a third party, and some residents denied requesting a mail-in ballot or even knowing that a provincial election was happening.

Additionally, the BC Conservatives alleged that the manager of Argyll Lodge is the same as an individual who made a $1,400 donation to the BC NDP in 2023.

Argyll Lodge declined to comment for The Epoch Times, but manager of the facility Baljit Kandola told Global News that there was “no truth” to the allegations.

NDP Premier David Eby told CBC News that the BC Conservatives’ allegations had “echoes of American-style politics that he’s been trying to bring to our province,” but said if there were anything to the allegations, then Elections BC and the courts would make a determination.