HYDERABAD: The Election Commission of India (ECI) directed the Telangana Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Rajat Kumar to submit a factual report at the earliest to them based on complaints from various political parties, barring TRS, against District Election Officer (DEO) of Sangareddy, M Hanumantha Rao. The ECI under secretary K P Singh sent a letter to the CEO on Wednesday evening.
The opposition parties sought to replace Hanumantha Rao from the post of DEO, who is serving in the same district since June 22, 2014. In their complaint to the EC, they said that the CEO is reportedly supporting only TRS and not taking action against their complaints.
Meanwhile, Rajat Kumar said that he has not received any notice from the ECI with regard to a complaint made by the Congress leaders. However, he said he will have to check the mail.
As per the ECI’s memo, no officer connected directly with the ensuing elections should be allowed to continue in the present post if he or she has been working in the hometown or district or completed three years in the district in the last four years or would be completing three years on or before November 30, 2018.
However, Hanumantha Rao was posted as a special officer of Gajwel Area Development Authority on July 22, 2014, and was directed to report to the then Medak Collector. Since then he was part of the erstwhile Medak district and K Chandrasekhar Rao’s constituency and also said to be very close with TRS MLAs and MPs. The opposition leaders stated that he is part of Medak district administration for more than four years now.
However, Hanumantha Rao claims that the rule doesn’t apply for him since he is posted as DEO of Sangareddy after creation of new districts in October 2016.