Ballia (UP), Apr 27 (PTI) An independent candidate for the post of councillor here has been booked for allegedly manipulating the electoral roll to get the nomination paper of one of his rivals rejected ahead of the local body election, police said on Thursday.

On Wednesday, Rasra SDM Sadanand Saroj filed a complaint against Avinash Jaiswal and employees of Bhardwaj Stationers, who were given the responsibility for publishing the electoral rolls, Deputy Superintendent of Police (Rasra) Mohammad Faheem said.

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The SDM, in the complaint, alleged that Jaiswal, a candidate for the post of councillor of ward no. 24, recently got the name of his rival Rajesh's father changed in the electoral rolls in connivance with the employees of Bhardwaj Stationers with the intention of getting his nomination rejected

As the matter got disclosed well in time, the accused could not succeed in their objective, the DSP said, adding further probe is on in the matter.

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State Election Commissioner Manoj Kumar had on April 9 announced local body elections in the state in two phases, on May 4 and 11. The counting of votes will take place on May 13.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)