After a series of twists and turns, Rohini IAS won the first round of a war that broke out between her and Congress’s Hassan district-in-charge and minister A Manju, as the Election Commission gave her a clean chit while probing a complaint made by the minister.

The commission concluded that the charge against District Election Officer and Deputy Commissioner Rohini was “baseless”.

In his complaint on Tuesday to the EC, Manju, who is also the minister for Animal Husbandry, said that Rohini should be transferred as she was “defaming” him.

Meanwhile, the EC said that the probe against the minister for violating the poll code would continue.

As reported earlier, Rohini had charged the minister with bribery, acting on a complaint by a BJP district functionary. Her decision was based on a Returning Officer’s preliminary report on granting Baigar Hukum land after the Model Code of Conduct in contravention of due process.

She had also called for the suspension of tahsildar Prasanna Murthy and a case worker, Lakshmeesha.

Earlier, Rohini had locked down Manju's office on March 31 at the PWD Inspection Bungalow and issued notices to the minister and the PWD demanding to know why a government office was being used for election work as it was against Model Code of Conduct rules.

The district administration had filed a police complaint after the Minister admitted the charges.

The friction between the Congress district leadership and the IAS officer is not new. She was almost shunted out of the district ahead of the elections only to be stayed by the Election Commission. Rohini herself had also challenged the transfer order at the Karnataka High Court and Central Administrative Tribunal.

She was also served showcause notices for failing to receive and see off CM Siddaramaiah when he visited the district to inaugurate Mahamastakabishekha celebrations.

However, the officer has maintained that there is no personal issue involved

The state goes to polls on May 12 and the result is set to be out on May 15.