Giving “a break” to the Expenditure Observer for Aravakurichi constituency, the Election Commission has appointed an additional Expenditure Observer for the constituency which goes to poll on November 19.
A couple of days ago, the Commission had appointed Ajay Dattatraya Kulkarni, Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax, Pune, in the place of Shil Asheesh, who was overseeing the election process and the expenditure incurred by the candidates for the last two weeks in the constituency.
While Mr.Kulkarni has already arrived in Karur, the EC, through another order on Tuesday, re-appointed Mr.Shil Asheesh as Expenditure Observer from November 13 till the completion of the poll in the constituency. Mr.Asheesh would work along with Mr.Kulkarni, the order said.
Clarifying on the posting of the additional observer, Rajesh Lakhoni, Chief Electoral Officer, said “the Observer [Mr.Asheesh] has been given a break for a few days and he will join after that.” Incidentally, Mr. Asheesh was the Expenditure Observer during the May elections in Karur district when the EC took the unprecedented decision of countermanding the general election to the Aravakurichi constituency following allegations of large-scale seizure and distribution of cash to the voters.
It was based on the reports by the observers, including Mr. Asheesh on the expenditure incurred by the main candidates such as V. Senthil Balaji of the AIADMK and K.C. Pallani Shamy of the DMK, the EC had rescinded the election to the constituency.
Meanwhile, Bhupal Singh Manral, General Observer to the Aravakurichi constituency, reviewed the poll preparedness with the officials on Tuesday.
In a related development, Collector K. Govindaraj made a surprise check to verify the effectiveness of the static surveillance teams and flying squads on Monday. Accompanied by Superintendent of Police T.K. Rajasekaran, Mr. Govindaraj visited various check posts set up to monitor vehicles coming to the Aravakurichi constituency.
