CEO admits to fault in actor Siva case, awaiting report

Responding to the issue, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO)Satyabrata Sahoo told reporters on Tuesday that necessary action would be initiated against the presiding officer who allowed Sivakarthikeyan to vote in a polling booth at Valasarawakkam.

Sahoo said preliminary enquiries revealed that the name of the actor was missing from the electoral rolls, but the staff posted at the polling booth had allowed him to vote after he showed his electoral photo identity card (EPIC). However, actor Srikanth whose name was also missing from the list was not allowed to vote. What kind of action to be initiated would be decided based on final report of the district election officer.

It may be noted that the booth officials, who initially refused actor Siva karthikeyan to vote, later invited the star to cast his vote and the incident has now triggered fresh controversy.

The model code of conduct guidelines issued by the Election Commission is clear and officers who fail to adhere to the rules would be subjected for inquiry and action thereafter, Satyabrata Sahoo said.

When asked about the opposition political parties raising concern over the security arrangements around the strong room in Madurai, Sahoo said that the additional electoral officer was investigating the case. Based on his report action would be taken.

When asked whether action would be initiated against Madurai District Collector, the district election officer, also, Sahoo said that if the inquiry officer finds fault with the collector then action would be taken againstthe collector.

“We have to find whether there is a mistake on the part of DEO or not,” CEO said.

Answering a question on massive removal of names from the voters list in Kanniyakumari, the CEO said more than 50,000 names had been added to the voters’ list during two recent revisions and 10,000 names have been removed after getting form 7.

The CEO rejected the complaints of political parties that a mass deletion of names of voters from fishing hamlets have been done.

Meanwhile, the AMMK and its ally Social Democratic Party of India demanded additional security measures and facilities for the candidates and their acknowledged agents visiting the counting stations.

AMMK south Chennai district secretary Sukumar Babu who visited the counting station at Loyola College said that the arrangements could be better for the party agents visiting the counting stations.