Sharma, Who Cancelled Natarajan's Nominations, Became RO For First Time

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The returning officer, Arvind Sharma, who was conducting an election for the first time, stole the limelight after cancelling the form of Congress candidate Meenakshi Natarajan for a Rajya Sabha seat.

Sharma has never been a returning officer. Nor did his services belong to the Vidhan Sabha.

Sharma's services are linked to the Lok Sabha, where he went as secretary in March 2024.

On October 1 last year, he was promoted to the post of principal secretary. The RS elections were being held for the first time after his promotion as principal secretary, so he was appointed returning officer.

Although the Congress is blaming the returning officer, the Election Commission has upheld Sharma's decision.

But a former returning officer, Bhagwandev Israni, who conducted the RS elections, did not agree with the decision to cancel Natarajan's nomination form.

According to Israni, a returning officer should not have cancelled a nomination form in this way.

A court notice cannot be treated as a criminal case because there was no FIR against the candidate, he said.

Many returning officers, who have conducted the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections, off the record said the returning officer should have made efforts to stop the cancellation of nominations.

The returning officer has the authority to allow the candidate to correct the form.

On the other hand, some officers said proper attention should be paid at the time of filling such forms.