The Madhya Pradesh Government on Sunday reappointed officials who were transferred on the directives of the Election Commission of India (ECI) during the bypoll in Ater Assembly constituency of Bhind district.
In an order issued on Sunday, the Government posted Ilaya Raja T as the District Collector and Anil Singh Kushwaha as the Superintendent of Police (SP) of Bhind district.
Both the officials were transferred by the EC a week ahead of the Ater bypoll following a complaint that the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machine dispensed only lotus (the BJP's symbol) slips irrespective of any button being pressed on the EVM during the familiarisation exercise.
The Congress had demanded that voting be done on ballot paper and not electronic voting machines or EVMs, after the VVPAT machine controversy. The Election Commission has maintained that EVMs were rigged, rejecting the demand for paper ballot but had got both Collector and SP transferred from Bhind. They were replaced by Kiran Gopal and S Saxena respectively.
VVPAT is a machine which dispenses a slip with the symbol of the party for which a person has voted for. The slip drops in a box and the voter cannot take it home.
After an inquiry, the EC however, denied all such allegations.
Kiran Gopal and Sushant Saxena had respectively replaced Ilaya Raja and Kushwaha. In Sunday's order, Gopal has been posted as Managing Director, MP Trade and Investment Facilitation Corporation limited while Ilaya Raja T has been re-posted as Bhind Collector.
In another order, Kushwaha was transferred tohis previous post as the SP of Bhind district while Saxena was transferred as SP in Shahdol district.
The bypolls for two Assembly seats of Ater and Bandhavgarh (Umaria) in Madhya Pradesh were held on April 9. The results were declared on April 13. The Congress won the Ater seat, while the BJP emerged victorious in Bandhavgarh.
MP Govt reappoints 2 transferred by EC