Election Officers begin probe into Mar. 20 power cut row

Mandya: Following complaints of poll-related violations to allegedly help JD(S) candidate from Mandya Nikhil Kumaraswamy, the Election Commission has reportedly transferred Mandya Deputy Commissioner N. Manjushree who is the  Returning Officer.

The Commission has taken the step following complaints from Sumalatha Ambarish that the DC, as Returning Officer, had helped Nikhil.

Sumalatha, who is contesting as an Independent candidate from Mandya, had complained and had alleged that the District Election Officers were favouring Nikhil, the son of Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy who is contesting against her as a JD(S)-Congress coalition candidate.

She accused the District Election Commission of trying to help her opponent illegally. She has also demanded the resignation or transfer of the DC for what she called misuse of official machinery to help a  political candidate.

Sources said that the Election Commission has ordered Manjushree’s transfer after the State Election Officers including State Election Commissioner Sanjiv Kumar and Regional Commissioner T.K. Anil Kumar have submitted a report. However, the order copy of the transfer is awaited.

Claiming that Nikhil has been allotted Serial no.1 in the EVM, Sumalatha questioned why she was allotted Serial no. 20, with her name appearing in the second EVM. Continuing her tirade against the CM, Sumalatha alleged that the Mandya DC Office was being controlled by the CM’s office.

According to Sumalatha, it is illegal to allot serial number ‘01’ to a regional party candidate. “The District Election Officer, also Deputy Commissioner, N. Manjushree is involved in irregularities due to pressure from Chief Minister. The intention is to create confusion among the voters. One Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) can accommodate the names of only 16 candidates. So, Sumalatha’s name will be on the second EVM. This will lead to confusion among the voters,” she said.

Election officers probed Sumalatha’s allegation that Nikhil was given Serial Number 1 in the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) in violation of rules and after ignoring alphabetical or the serial number order of the political parties based on national vote count. They also looked into allegations that Nikhil’s nomination papers/affidavit was not valid and DC Manjushree had helped him to rectify  the mistakes.

Power cut controversy : Meanwhile, election officers have begun a probe into the allegation of power cut on Mar. 20 when Sumalatha filed her nomination papers where a massive road show was held. Sumalatha has alleged that seeing the crowd, officials of Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Company (CESC) were directed by the powers that be to cut power supply in Mandya so that people cannot watch the rally on TVs.

Probing the allegation, Election officers visited the CESC office this morning and collected data through Meter Reading Machine.

Officials are collecting data since the last 6 months from three sub-stations in Mandya.When Nikhil filed his papers on Mar. 25, Mandya Superintendent of Police Shivaprakash Devaraj had allegedly written to CESC officials to ensure that there is no power cut.