The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Raymond Peter special observer for Bellary

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Thursday, May 15, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Raymond Peter special observer for Bellary

Special Correspondent

He has a reputation of being a strict officer

Bangalore: The Election Commission has appointed senior IAS officer Raymond Peter as special observer to oversee the polling process in Bellary district.

Mr. Raymond Peter, who is from the Andhra Pradesh cadre, has a reputation of being a strict officer and had handled elections in the Left Front-ruled West Bengal earlier.

In the December 2006 byelection to the Chamundeshwari Assembly seat in Mysore district, Mr. Peter ordered that political leaders leave the constituency ahead of the polls, which had annoyed many of them.

In the Chamundeshwari byelection, the former Deputy Chief Minister and Congress candidate Siddaramaiah won against the combined Janata Dal (Secular )-Bharatiya Janata Party candidate.

Suspended

The Election Commission has suspended H.K. Srinivas, Divisional Forest Officer and Anil Kumar Rathan, Divisional Forest Officer, for dereliction of election duties in Raichur district.

The two officials failed to discharge their duties assigned by the Raichur district Electoral Officer, said an official press statement.

Cases

The police have registered 1,935 criminal cases so far for violation of the model code of conduct and seized Rs. 20 crore cash and goods worth Rs. 20 crore, Chief Electoral Officer M.N. Vidyashankar said.

‘Collecting details’

Our Dharwad Staff Correspondent reports:

Mr. Raymond Peter who visited the Deputy Commissioner’s office in Dharwad on Wednesday was briefed about the poll preparations in the district by Deputy Commissioner M.S. Srikar.

Mr. Raymond Peter told presspersons that he was collecting details in sensitive booths in the district, especially in Kalghatgi constituency. It may be recalled that during the Chief Election Commissioner N. Gopalaswami’s visit to Dharwad on Tuesday there were many complaints about money being distributed on a large scale in Kalghatgi constituency, where Santosh Lad is the Congress candidate.

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