Assam: FIR, magisterial probe against 3 polling personnel for issuing extra ballots in home voting
Tinsukia (Assam), Apr 7: An FIR has been lodged and a magisterial inquiry ordered against three polling personnel in Assam's Tinsukia district over allegations of issuing extra ballot papers during home voting, a top official said on Sunday.
Tinsukia District Commissioner Swapneel Paul said the allegations were labelled against the personnel deployed for home voting through postal ballots in Doomdoma assembly constituency in Lakhimpur Lok Sabha seat on Saturday.
A team of three polling personnel, accompanied by one videographer and two policemen, were sent for the purpose in the morning.
The polling party reported in the evening that they could complete the postal ballot polling process for 14 electors as per the list given to them, he said.
"However, when they submitted the polled postal ballots and the booklet containing counterfoil and unpolled postal ballot papers, it was noticed that 16 counterfoils were used for 14 voters," the DC, who is also the district election officer, said.
Asked about the anomaly, the three polling personnel claimed that family members of an 88-year-old voter had objected to the poll procedure and demanded another ballot paper for him.
Family members of another 86-year-old voter in the neighbourhood also started raising the same demand, the official said.
The polling personnel issued extra postal ballot papers to both persons "owing to pressure of the public and fearing their safety", Paul said.
"Taking cognizance of the fact that issuance of postal ballot twice to single voter is a gross negligence of duty which may tantamount to corrupt practice as one person can only vote once, an FIR against the personnel was lodged on Saturday," he said.
A magisterial enquiry by Lakhimpur Lok Sabha constituency Assistant Returning Officer Jabed Arman has been ordered, while the polling personnel have been debarred from all kinds of election duties for the current elections in Tinsukia district with immediate effect, the official said.
The departments from which the polling personnel were deployed have also been intimated and asked to initiate proceedings through a departmental enquiry, the DC added.
Lakhimpur will go to the polls in the first phase on April 19.
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Rickelton's ton in vain as SRH beat MI by 6 wickets
Mumbai (PTI): Ryan Rickelton's whirlwind unbeaten ton was overshadowed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an IPL match here on Wednesday.
Chasing an imposing 244-run target, Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24) shared 129 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform for SRH.
Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) then displayed his all-round hitting abilities to guide SRH home with the help of Nitish Kumar Reddy (21) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, Rickelton's knock powered MI to 243 for five.
MI rode on a 93-run stand between Rickelton (123 not out off 55 balls) and Will Jacks (46 off 22) in 7.1 overs for the opening stand to power the side.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored a valuable 31 off 15 balls before being dismissed.
Praful Hinge (2/54), Eshan Malinga (1/29), Sakib Hasan (1/39) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/31) were the wicket-takers for SRH.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indian: 243 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 123 not out; Praful Hinge 2/54).
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 249 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Travis Head 76, Heinrich Klaasen 65 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2/51).
