Three poll officials found drunk, removed from duty in Mizoram
Aizawl, Nov 28 : Three polling officials, including two presiding officers, in Mizoram's Lunglei district were removed from their duties after they were allegedly found in an inebriated state, attempting to assault other officials.
The three persons were removed from the election duties with immediate effect and authorities concerned were asked to initiate departmental enquiries against them, a senior official at the office of the Chief Electoral Officer said.
Those who faced action include James RT Khuma, an Associate Professor at Government J Buana College, who was the presiding officer at a polling station in Lunglei South assembly seat.
"He was found to be intoxicated in the DC office premises, was behaving in an extremely unruly manner and attempted to physically assault a senior officer in the presence of others," Lunglei Deputy Commissioner-cum-District Returning Officer Ankita Chakravarty said in an order.
She ordered the principal of Government J Buana College to immediately initiate disciplinary proceedings against Khuma considering it to be "serious misconduct".
Lalramhluna, an Executive Engineer (Highways) of PWD, the presiding officer at Sachan polling station in Thorang seat came to collect polling materials at Saikuti Hall after consuming alcohol.
"While on poll day, this is a serious breach of official duty," Chakravarty said and asked the PWD's Lunglei Superintending Engineer to initiate departmental proceedings against the officer.
S Lalrinthanga, the Headmaster of Government Primary School at Rualalung, the third polling officer at Phairuangchhuah polling station in West Tuipui Assembly constituency also reported for duty in a drunken state and later could not be found at the despatch centre.
"This is a breach of election duty and amounts to serious misconduct. You are hence directed to suspend him with immediate effect," Chakravarty said in her order to Sub-Divisional Education Officer of Lunglei South.
Voting in Mizoram is underway to elect representatives from 40 Assembly constituencies, where a total of 7,70,395 voters, including 3,94,897 women and 32,545 first time voters, will decide the fate of 209 candidates.
Around 29 per cent voter turnout was recorded in the first four hours of polling in the state, Mizoram Chief Electoral Officer Ashish Kundra said.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
