BHOPAL: After the row over the malfunctioning VVPAT machine, the office of the chief election commissioner is keeping a close watch on the Ater assembly bypolls. The state chief electoral officer (CEO) Saleena Singh has been put out of the loop as far as Ater polls are concerned.
Bhanwarlal, the CEO of Andhra Pradesh is now supervising the conduct of the polls. Bhanwarlal, a 1983 batch IAS officer, is senior to the state chief secretary BP Singh. All reports regarding the elections are being routed to him and he is presiding over meetings of officers. The EC observers and the collector and SP of Bhind are reporting to him rather than to the state CEO.
It is probably for the first time that the CEO of the state has been asked to keep hands off a bypoll. Saleena Singh’s role in now limited to only Bandhavgarh bye-polls and she is seeking information only from the officers of Umaria district. Bhanwarlal has issued instructions to the officers of Bhind district to strictly follow only his instructions regarding the by-polls.
Top dist officers lack experience of conducting polls
The new collector and other officers of the district, who were posted there, following the EC order have no experience of conducting elections. The new collector Kiran Gopal has, so far, been posted only in Balaghat as collector and that too after the assembly polls.