Panchayat election fiasco: Confusion due to typo, says Pernambut BDO

Vellore: A day after P Jayanthi and her supporters petitioned Vellore Collector P Kumaravel Pandian claiming that though she won the polls to Ward 7 of Rajakkal village panchayat, there emerged a twist in the tale. As per the petition, V Jayanthi, who secured 64 votes, was wrongly declared the winner. However, the Collector posted on the district’s official WhatsApp group a letter from the Pernambut BDO stating that the issue was due to a typing mistake, on Tuesday. The letter dated from BDO G Premalatha to the Collector stated that the mistake occurred inadvertently due to 119 votes secured by V Jayannthi, who won on the Car symbol, being put in the name of P Jayanthi, who contested on the Comb symbol. Premalatha added in the letter that she was submitting poll-related Forms 22 and 26 in support of her claim. However, the P Jayanthi camp sought recounting of the votes to clear doubts.