Hassan: The district electoral officer has suspended three polling officers for alleged electoral malpractices in Hassan, where JD(S) supremo, H D Deve Gowda's grandson, Prajwal Revanna, is trying his luck this Lok Sabha poll
The three officers were manning booth 244 in Paduvalahippe, Holenarsipura taluk, where Mr Deve Gowda and his family voted in the elections. BJP polling agents, Mayanna Gowda and M.N. Raju had complained to deputy commissioner, Priyanka Mary Francis , who is also district electoral officer , against the polling officers for allegedly letting a group of 30 supporters of minister H D Revannna into the polling station at Paduvalahippe to rig the voting in favour of his son, Prajwal. The three have been suspended following preliminary investigation, according to Ms Francis, who examined the CCTV footage of the polling booth. On her orders, cases have been booked against the suspended officers , Yogesh, Ramachandra Rao and T.S. Dinesh by the Holenarsipura rural police station.
The police have also booked four others for poll rigging at the Paduvalahippe polling station. While one of them has been accused of electoral malpractice, two others have been targeted for unauthorised entry into the polling station and one more for behaving suspiciously in the booth. Ms Francis said a report had been submitted to the Chief Electoral Officer in Bengaluru for permission to take further action against the polling officers concerned.
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