Tamil Nadu   

EC orders shifting of Collector, police chief

J. Venkatesan

For failure to adhere to instructions on election-eve

New Delhi:The Election Commission on Wednesday ordered the shifting of Madurai Collector and District Election Officer S.S. Jawahar; Police Commissioner A. Subramanian and four others for their failure to enforce its directions during filing of nominations for the Madurai West byelection.

Others ordered to be shifted include: A. Narayanamurthy, Revenue Divisional Officer, Madurai, and Returning Officer, Madurai West; R. Ramarajan, Deputy Police Commissioner (Law and Order); S.D. Rajendran Assistant Police Commissioner, Tallakulam (L & O Range) and M. Rajendran, Inspector of Police, Tallakulam (L & O).

In a communication to the Chief Secretary, the Commission directed the Government to send a panel of three names for each of the six posts for replacement by 3 p.m. on June 14 for its consideration .

The letter said: “Inputs have been received with regard to blatant violation of the Commission’s instructions for the by-election to the Madurai West Assembly constituency wherein a large number of persons barged into the office of the Returning Officer during filing of nominations by some prospective candidates against the guidelines, which permit only five persons, including the candidate himself/herself, to be present.”

The Commission said: “The incident is a repeat of the incident that happened during the by-election to the Madurai Central constituency held in 2006 in which case the parties concerned, namely Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, were conveyed the displeasure of the Commission and warned to be careful in future. It is clear that the district administration has failed to enforce the lawful directions of the Commission.”

The Commission also issued show-cause notices to the Congress candidate K.S.K. Rajendran and AIADMK candidate K. Raju as to why action should not be taken for violating the instructions on the number of persons entering the office of Returning Officer at the time of filing of nominations.

The notice sent to Mr. Rajendran said that when he had gone to file his nominations on June 8, about 35 persons entered the office of the Returning Officer as against the prescribed limit of four persons.

Similarly, when Mr. Raju filed his nominations on June 5, about 30 persons entered the Returning Officer’s office. Both the candidates had blatantly violated the instructions, the Commission said and sought their reply by on June 15.

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