The CPI(M) has written to the Election Commission alleging that Lt. Governor Kiran Bedi is trying to meddle in the appointment of officials for election duty.
In a letter to Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora on Tuesday, CPI(M) State Committee member T. Murugan said Ms. Bedi was trying to post IAS officers in key posts and for election duty. He also requested the ECI to restrain Chief Electoral Officer Shurbir Singh from “biased and unfair” acts of posting favoured officers for election duty.
According to Mr. Murugan, the bias of the CEO was evident from the link arrangement for officers holding the post of District Election Officers and Electoral Registration Officers.
The electoral roll revision was fully managed by the Electoral Registration Officers, and the District Election Officers only played a supervisory role.
In an order issued by the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms on December 8, the link officers were given the additional charge as Electoral Registration Officers until an officer took charge.
But the District Election Officers, who played a minor role, had been given the additional charge of a special summary revision of the rolls. The order had made it clear that the District Election Officers would look after duties till the completion of the revision.
Mr. Murugan said Purva Garg, who was given the additional charge as District Election Officer, had re-tweeted a message posted by the BJP on its Twitter handle.
Additional charge
He also flagged the additional charge given to Director of Art and Culture P. Ragini as the Electoral Registration Officer for three Assembly constituencies.
The officer is the wife of the Lt. Governor’s Private Secretary, the letter said. “This creates suspicion among the public and parties that there is an attempt to include bogus voters in the list to favour the BJP,” he said.
