TN Election Officer Admits To Rigging Results In Favour Of DMK During Civic Polls

The State Election Commission counsel told the bench that the officer was suspended from service.

Chennai: A Returning Officer attached to T Kallupatti panchayat in Madurai accepted to have rigged the result of Ward 10 in the civic polls to favour a DMK candidate due to "pressure" exerted from local party functionaries. The issue came to light after the independent candidate who originally won the post moved a PIL petition in the court. 

According to a report on PTI, the PIL petition from an independent candidate R Palaniselvi challenging the result declared by the returning officer on February 22 came up for hearing again on Friday. The case came before the first bench of Chief Justice MN Bhandari and Justice D Bharatha Chakravathy at Madras High Court when the officer confessed that he did tamper with the results due to the pressure of the local party cadre.

However, the State Election Commission counsel told the bench that the officer has been suspended from service. They also said Palaniselvi has been declared the winner.

Meanwhile, in the petition, candidate Palaniselvi said she and her opponent R Subbulakshmi of DMK won the same number of votes. Therefore, a lot was held to decide on the winner. The lot was also shot on video.

In the draw, the independent candidate said she won the draw but the election officer declared Subbulakshmi as the winner. Hence, she sought the court to quash the winning declaration of the election officer on February 22.

Following this, the court directed election officer to file an affidavit and adjourned the case. The final orders are expected to be passed after 10 days.