India News | MP: Poll Official Suspended Amid Row over Opening of Postal Ballots Kept in Balaghat Strongroom
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. Days before the counting of votes of Madhya Pradesh assembly polls, a sub-divisional magistrate from Balaghat district has been suspended amid a controversy over some officials allegedly opening the strong room and segregating postal ballots ahead of the daily schedule on Monday.
Bhopal, Nov 29 (PTI) Days before the counting of votes of Madhya Pradesh assembly polls, a sub-divisional magistrate from Balaghat district has been suspended amid a controversy over some officials allegedly opening the strong room and segregating postal ballots ahead of the daily schedule on Monday.
The district administration had earlier said the strong room in the tehsil office, where postal ballots are kept, would be opened at 3 pm every day for storing the postal ballots.
The opposition Congress had submitted a memorandum to the state Chief Electoral Officer alleging that postal ballots were taken out of the strong room on November 27 and demanded action against the Balaghat collector.
The district administration, however, had termed the incident as a "procedural lapse".
The order suspending sub-divisional magistrate Gopal Kumar Soni, the returning officer of the Balaghat assembly seat, was issued on Tuesday by district collector cum returning officer Girish Mishra.
Soni was suspended following directives from the Jabalpur divisional commissioner, as per the order.
Earlier, assistant returning officer (ARO) cum tehsildar Himmat Singh Bhavedi was suspended in connection with the postal ballots incident.
After Congress submitted a memorandum, MP CEO Anupam Rajan denied the allegations and said local Congress leaders have expressed satisfaction with the procedure.
State Congress vice president JP Dhanopia, the party's in-charge of election affairs, had alleged that postal ballots were taken out from the treasury room in Balaghat and handed over to staffers who were handling them the way they wished.
"Therefore, the sanctity of postal ballots is under suspicion," Dhanopia had stated in the memorandum seeking the suspension of all employees associated with the process.
Balaghat collector Girish Mishra had issued a statement saying the strong room, created in the local tehsil office, was opened in the presence of authorised polling agents of political parties to segregate the incoming postal ballots.
As per the process, ballots coming in through the Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETBPS) from various districts are segregated assembly-wise at 3 pm every day after opening the strong room, he said.
The ballots are then carefully placed in bundles as per rules laid down by the Election Commission, the collector was quoted as saying.
A total of 429 service votes of Baihar, 553 of Lanjhi, 452 of Paraswada, 1,308 of Balaghat, 391 of Waraseoni and 126 of Katangi were segregated in the presence of authorised agents, the statement said.
"Someone shot a video of the process and circulated it to create confusion," it added.
Mishra on Tuesday told reporters that it was a procedural mistake as the strongroom was opened for sorting of postal ballots before the scheduled time and date.
The collector also claimed that he was not informed by officials concerned about the opening of the strong room and assembly segment-wise sorting of postal ballot papers.
The single-phase election to 230 assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh was held on November 17. Votes will be counted on December 3.
(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)