Hassan district administration has received complaints alleging that the election staff, who are entitled to vote through postal ballots, are being pressurised and offered inducements to vote for a particular political party.
The Election Commission issues postal ballots to the polling staff in advance. They have to exercise their franchise and place the paper in a designated box at the office of the Returning Officer.
The complaints received by the district administration suggest that a few officers of the Department of School Education and Literacy, and office-bearers of the district units of the Government Employees’ Association and Teachers’ Association are engaged in putting pressure on the election staff and also offering them inducements on behalf of political parties. They are also forcing the staff to hand over the empty ballot papers so that they could vote according to their choice before dropping them in the designated box.
Measures to avoid unfair practices
Following such complaints, Hassan Deputy Commissioner M.S. Archana, on Friday, April 28, wrote to the Deputy Director of Public Instructions, the President of the Hassan Zilla Government Employees’ Association, and the President of the District School Teachers’ Association to take the proper measures necessary to avoid unfair practices.
In her letter, the DC said that the associations should instruct the subordinate taluk associations and members not to engage in activities that amount to putting pressure and offering inducements to the voters. She warned that the administration would register criminal cases as per the Representation of Peoples Act 1951 if anybody was found involved in such activities.
In a similar letter to the DDPI, she instructed the officer to direct his subordinate Block Education Officers and other staff not to engage in unfair practices and also warned them of criminal cases, if they violated the law.
