A Deputy Chief Electoral Officer and a Section Officer have been removed from duties related to the April 9 Assembly elections and sent back to their parent offices, the CEO’s office informed.
EC purge continues to ensure free and fair polls in second phase of Bengal polls
Rathan U Kelkar, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Kerala, removed two election officials on Saturday following an incident related to the distribution of an Election Commission of India (EC) letter that bore the seal of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
A Deputy Chief Electoral Officer and a Section Officer have been removed from duties related to the April 9 Assembly elections and sent back to their parent offices, the CEO’s office informed. The disciplinary action came in the wake of an inquiry conducted by Additional CEO P B Nooh.
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Jaisal P Azeez, an office-bearer of the pro-LDF NGO Union and who allegedly forwarded the letters, was earlier placed under suspension.
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Earlier on Saturday, BJP state General Secretary S Suresh alleged that the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Kerala is acting as the B team of the CPM and that there is a conspiracy behind sending the letter with the BJP seal. What was initially seen as a procedural error has, according to the BJP, assumed the dimensions of a “deliberate political plot” involving sections of the state administration and officials within the Election Commission
S Suresh alleged that the official who faced action in the incident is a member of a pro-CPM organization in the secretariat. He said an officer named Jaisal P Aziz is the one assigned to the duty because he has connections with DYFI and SFI. The BJP State General Secretary asked how the official obtained the BJP’s seal and why, among hundreds of applications submitted to the Commission, only the BJP’s document was singled out and circulated.
In Nemom, where the Labour Minister is contesting, the Labour Officer from the same department is coming as the Returning Officer. The BJP has asked whether the Chief Electoral Officer lacks the eyes to see any of this.
The BJP has formally lodged a complaint with the Election Commission of India (ECI), seeking the immediate transfer of the official concerned and a comprehensive probe into the incident. It has also accused the ruling dispensation of misusing administrative influence to manipulate the poll process.
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