District Collector Biju Prabhakar, who is also the District Election Officer, has recommended disciplinary action against Neyyattinkara Tahsildar Anil Kumar K.S. on the charge of not taking prompt action against a vehicle carrying election campaign flyers of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) at Amaravilla check-post on Tuesday morning.
The charge against Mr Kumar, according to sources in the District Election Office (DEC) here, is that he allowed the vehicle to pass the check-post even after receiving information about the campaign materials, which did not display the name of the press or specify the total number of materials as mandated by the Election Commission of India.
The Statistical Surveillance Team later intercepted the vehicle near Vazhamukku at Balaramapuram and seized the materials numbering around 11 lakh. The flyers, exhorting people to vote for the SDPI candidate, were printed at an unknown press in Sivakasi, in neighbouring Tamil Nadu. The vehicle contained a bill for around 25,000 copies only, sources in the DEC told The Hindu .
The driver and cleaner of the vehicle were apprehended and questioned to extract more information about the owner of the press or the persons who had ordered the printing of the materials. However, they seemed to have little information about it. The special squads have been asked to conduct proper vehicle checks at the entry points bordering Tamil Nadu as it was practice for candidates to get unaccounted campaign materials sources from that State, particularly from Sivakasi, sources added.
