ECI suspends six officers in UP, orders action against 21 others over MLC poll lapses

The commission also removed IAS officer Abhay from his role as observer for the biennial election to the Gorakhpur-Faizabad Division Teachers’ Constituency.

The Election Commission (ECI) on Monday ordered the immediate suspension of six supervisory officers and disciplinary proceedings against five presiding officers and 16 police personnel over alleged lapses in duty during the biennial Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council election from the Agra Teachers’ Constituency.

The commission also removed IAS officer Abhay from his role as observer for the biennial election to the Gorakhpur-Faizabad Division Teachers’ Constituency. The decision came after BJP MLC Devendra Pratap Singh alleged irregularities in the election.

IAS officer Prakash Bindu, a 2009-batch officer, has been appointed as his replacement. Counting for the 11 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council seats, including the Gorakhpur-Faizabad Division Teachers’ Constituency, is scheduled for Tuesday, October 27. Polling was held on Friday.

In a letter to Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwa, ECI Secretary Suman Kumar Das said the suspension orders were issued based on a report submitted by the Agra divisional commissioner. The report highlighted the need for repolling at three polling stations in the Agra Teachers’ Constituency.

Six supervisory officers suspended

The six officers ordered to be suspended include OP Singh, sector magistrate; Harisharan Das, inspector in the crime branch; and Sandeep Kumar, sub-inspector at Etmaddaula police station. All three were deployed at polling station number 21, located at the Kshetra Panchayat Office in Saiyan.

The other three officers are Vishal Rathore, sector magistrate; Purushottam Pal, additional inspector at Fatehabad; and Sumit Tyagi, sub-inspector at Ekta police station in Agra. They were deployed at polling station number 26, located at the Kshetra Panchayat Office in Fatehabad.

The ECI has directed the authorities to issue charge-sheets to all six officers and submit draft copies to the commission for review within 10 days.

Disciplinary action against 21 others

The commission has also ordered disciplinary proceedings against five presiding officers and 16 police personnel deployed at polling stations 21 and 26.

The action follows the findings in the report submitted by the Agra divisional commissioner regarding alleged lapses in election duties and supervision.

The authorities have been directed to send a compliance report to the Election Commission of India immediately.

Rajesh Kumar Singh is Assistant Editor, Hindustan Times, at the political bureau in Lucknow. An Alumnus of Ramjas College, Delhi and the University of Delhi, he has covered politics in the Hindi heartland Uttar Pradesh and Bihar for three decades and has written extensively on Dalit and OBC politics. He travelled across Uttar Pradesh to cover the panchayat, assembly and Lok Sabha elections. Along with writing on development issues, governance and public policy has done crime reporting, including Maoist activities in Bihar as well as activities of gangsters in East Uttar Pradesh, Jungle Party gang active on UP- Bihar border, dacoit gangs in Bundelkhand region and Sand Mafia active in various districts of UP. Has done investigations and reporting exposing multi-crore NRHM scam in UP, Nutrition scam, Medicine supply scam, irregularities in the flood management projects, weapon smuggling and human trafficking on Indo- Nepal border. He highlighted the deaths of children due to encephalitis in the districts of East Uttar Pradesh; the central and state government took cognisance of the report to launch schemes to check deaths and improve the facilities in the health centres and hospitals. He also reported on the social issues in East Uttar Pradesh and Bundelkhand- migration, farming crisis, water crisis, plight of the deprived communities- Musahar, Vantongiyas, Sahariya and Kol communities. He covers state government departments. He also travels to write human-interest stories and in-depth stories from the ground in the Bundelkhand, Purvanchal, and Rohilkhand regions of Uttar Pradesh.Read More