Three Hassan polling officers suspended for electoral malpractice

Hassan: Three Hassan polling officers were suspended by the district electoral officer for alleged electoral malpractices in Hassan, where JD(S) supremo, H D Deve Gowda’s grandson, Prajwal Revanna, is trying his luck this Lok Sabha poll.

The suspended officers are identified as Yogesh, Ramachandra Rao and T.S. Dinesh.

Reportedly, BJP polling agents, Mayanna Gowda and M.N. Raju had complained to deputy commissioner, Priyanka Mary Francis , who is also district electoral officer , against the polling officers for allegedly letting a group of 30 supporters of minister H D Revannna into the polling station at Paduvalahippe to rig the voting in favour of his son, Prajwal.

Following the incident, Francis, who examined the CCTV footage of the polling booth suspended the three polling officers.

The three officers were manning booth 244 in Paduvalahippe, Holenarsipura taluk, where JDS supremo and former Prime Minister Deve Gowda and his family voted in the elections. On her orders, cases have been booked against the suspended officers, Yogesh, Ramachandra Rao and T.S. Dinesh by the Holenarsipura rural police station.

Meanwhile, the police have also booked four others for poll rigging at the Paduvalahippe polling station. While one of them has been accused of electoral malpractice, two others have been targeted for unauthorised entry into the polling station and one more for behaving suspiciously in the booth.