A sub-divisional magistrate from the Balaghat district has been suspended in the wake of a row surrounding some officials who allegedly opened the strong room and separated postal ballots ahead of the daily schedule on Monday, just days before the Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls.
The district administration had earlier said the strong room in the tehsil office, where the postal ballots are kept, would be opened at 3 pm every day for storing the postal ballots.
The Opposition Congress had submitted a memorandum to the state Chief Electoral Officer alleging that postal ballots were taken out of the strong room on November 27 and demanded action against the Balaghat collector.
The district administration, however, had termed the incident as a “procedural lapse”.
The order suspending sub-divisional magistrate Gopal Kumar Soni, the returning officer of the Balaghat Assembly seat, was issued on Tuesday by district collector cum returning officer Girish Mishra.
Balaghat collector Girish Mishra had issued a statement saying the strong room, created in the local tehsil office, was opened in the presence of authorised polling agents of political parties to segregate the incoming postal ballots.
As per the process, ballots coming in through the Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETBPS) from various districts are segregated Assembly-wise at 3 pm every day after opening the strong room, he said.
The ballots are then carefully placed in bundles as per rules laid down by the Election Commission, the collector was quoted as saying.