BHOPAL: Following the incident of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machine dispensing only BJP slips during a demonstration recently, the Election Commission, on complaint of the Congress, appointed new collector and SP in Bhind district on Sunday. Ater constituency in the district is to go to bypolls soon.
V Kiran Gopal, project director, NRHM, has been appointed collector and Shahdol SP Sushant Saxena has been made SP of the district. Earlier, collector Ilaiya Raja T and SP Anil Singh Kushwaha, were removed on Saturday. Ilaiya Raja has been posted as depty secretary in Mantralaya, while Kushwaha is now AIG, PHQ. Kiran Gopal had earlier been removed as Balaghat collector after an incident of wood theft there. An EC-appointed team of observers has reached Bhind. It sought detailed information on how the EVM malfunctioned from the outgoing collector and SP. Sources said the officers re-enacted the demonstration before the EC team. The team was told that the slips were not attached properly with the EVM which is why the machine dispensed wrong slips. The EC team will stay put at Bhind till the voting. The team will test the EVMs and send reports to the EC.
