Bhopal: Enjoying picnic at Bandhavgarh tiger reserve during duty in assembly elections may cost for more than a dozen central election observers dearly. The election commission has communicated to the complainant that a probe is being conducted on his complaint.
The election commission has decided to reopen the probe against election observers accused of going for a picnic in Bandhavgarh tiger reserve and Mukundpur White tiger safari while they were on duty in the assembly elections held in November.
The original complaint was lodged by RTI activist Ajay Dubey to the ECI. Dubey on Monday said that the commission on e-mail informed him about the probe being conducted again against the accused officials.
The Election Commission has ordered a probe into allegations that poll observers for Satna and Umaria went on a picnic to Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve. The poll panel took action after Dubey had posted a video on social media on November 17 and tagged EC, alleging that observers for Satna and a few other districts were touring Bandhavgarh while on poll duty.
Responding to the tweet, election commissioner Ashok Lavasa wrote, “The matter is being looked into.” The commission had sought a report from Satna district election officer Rahul Jain. According to Dubey, his sources told him that 19 polling officials visited the park on November 16.
Dubey said that the Madhya Pradesh government provided free of cost tourism arrangements to the observers posted in Vindhya and Mahakaushal region. The observers were found guilty he claimed and there has been no action against the errant officials.
Dubey said the actions against liasoning officers and security staff has also been demanded as they did not inform the district administration about observers being out of the district limits for 48 hours. An IAS officer Mukesh Shukla, former Satna collector was transferred earlier for violation of model code of conduct.
