VIJAYAWADA: The Election Commission is all set to crack the whip on erring officials in Krishna, Visakhapatnam and Nellore districts. While the officials of Krishna district came under severe criticism for shifting of unused Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) from a strong room in Machilipatnam days after the April 11 elections, officials in Nellore district were in the dock for leaving VVPATs on the premises of a ZP High School after completing the test polling before the election. Similarly, some of the officials in Visakhapatnam were also accused of dereliction of election duty.
After getting reports from the collectors of the three districts, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Gopal Krishna Dwivedi forwarded the same to the Election Commission recommending action against the erring officials. During an informal interaction with mediapersons, Dwivedi said that directions have been issued to the officials not to give scope for any mistakes in the security of EVMs.
He made it clear that no EVM (either used or unused) should be shifted from the strong rooms. In case of any emergency to shift the reserve EVMs, prior permission should be taken, he asserted. He said an inquiry is going on into the incident of finding VVPAT slips from a school in Atmakur of Nellore district.