The Election Commission on Thursday suspended Balaghat Returning Officer Gopal Soni over his alleged role in a postal ballot tampering incident in Madhya Pradesh.
In the same case, Chief Electoral Officer Anupam Rajan had suspended postal ballot nodal officer, Tehsildar Himmat Singh Bhavedi recently. An inquiry was also ordered into the matter.
Following the inquiry, Balaghat District Collector Girish Mishra suspended Sub Divisional Magistrate Gopal Soni on Wednesday.
A Congress delegation had approached the poll panel in Delhi with a complaint regarding the matter. The Election Commission (EC) had directed the Jabalpur division commissioner to conduct an inquiry into the matter.
Earlier, acting on a complaint by the Congress on suspicion of tampering with the postal ballots inside a strong room in Balaghat district of Madhya Pradesh, the EC had ordered the suspension of the tehsildar-rank nodal officer there. A video of the incident had gone viral where some people were seen opening postal ballot boxes and rearranging the ballot papers stored inside them.
Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Kamal Nath had also shared a video of the incident on his ‘X’ handle. The Congress had on Monday lodged a formal complaint in the matter with the EC.
Acting on the complaint, CEO Anupam Rajan, suspended the erring official and also directed the District Electoral Officer, Balaghat Collector Girish Mishra to conduct an inquiry into the matter.
Meanwhile, the district administration at Balaghat claimed that the postal ballots were only being sorted out and arranged assembly constituency-wise. SDM Gopal Soni had assured that no tampering whatsoever was done with the postal ballots.
The results of the crucial Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls will be out on December 3.