Muzaffarpur DM suspends sector magistrate

MUZAFFARPUR: Muzaffarpur DM-cum-district electoral officer Alok Ranjan Ghosh on Thursday suspended sector magistrate Awadhesh Kumar till further orders for dereliction of duty. Ghosh said Awadhesh, who is also Musahari block co-operative officer, was charged with keeping electronic voting machines (EVMs) in a hotel room on the polling day in the constituency on May 6.

Ghosh took the action on the basis of an inquiry report submitted by sub-divisional magistrate (east) Kundan Kumar.

“Awadhesh’s reply to the show-cause notice was found unsatisfactory. He was, thus, put under suspension,” Ghosh said.

The SDO (east) had recovered two EVMs and VVPATs from a hotel after agents of political parties raised an alarm.

“An SI-rank officer and four jawans were earlier suspended for not performing their duties properly on the polling day. The cops were deputed with sector magistrate but they never informed their superiors about sector magistrate moving to the hotel with EVMs and VVPATs,” Muzaffarpur senior superintendent of police Manoj Kumar said.

An election officer at Muzaffarpur said each sector magistrate was to be given only one EVM , but two EVMs and VVPATs were recovered from Awadhesh’s possession. “Even GPS was missing from Awadhesh’s vehicle. According to rules, every sector magistrate is supposed to move in GPS-fitted vehicles,” the officer added.