The Madras High Court on Saturday ordered the transfer of Madurai District Collector S Natarajan and other polling officials over a security breach at a counting centre in the district. Coming down heavily on the Election Commission (EC) on Saturday, the High Court slammed the poll body for the inconclusive inquiry it had conducted into the incident, as well as the lack of action against the officials involved.
On April 20, protests took place outside a counting centre at Madurai Medical College after a woman tehsildar and three male officers entered the strongroom where EVMs are stored. The officials reportedly spent over three hours inside the room, allegedly taking documents outside for photocopying.
According to one report in The Hindu, the court was hearing a PIL filed by CPI(M) Lok Sabha candidate Su Venkatesan, who had expressed fears that the tehsildar could have manipulated postal ballot records. Venkatesan, the Lok Sabha candidate of the Secular Progressive Alliance led by the DMK in the state, sought a thorough inquiry into the matter as well as a special observer in the district for counting postal ballots.
Soon after the incident came to light, Venkatesan met Natarajan. However, the bureaucrat reportedly claimed that he was unaware of the break-in. “It is totally untrue as he (Collector) cannot be a person unaware of the said incident when the unlawful entrants were let off only at the intervention of some officials from his office,” Venkatesan said in his affidavit before the court.
According to the Times of India, a division bench of Justices S Manikumar and Subramanium Prasad stated that no action has been initiated against the Personal Assistant (General) to the district collector, who had reportedly instructed the officials to enter the strong-room.
They slammed the inquiry report filed by the additional Chief Electoral Officer, stating, “There is absolutely nothing in this report. No recommendation nor findings of the inquiry. It is very disturbing that the PA who is said to be responsible for the issue was not even inquired. What decision the commission can come to on the basis of this report.”
The court also ordered departmental action against the Assistant Commissioner of Police and other police officers for security lapses at the counting centre. The matter was adjourned to April 30.