NAGPUR: The Election Commission (EC) has restricted Abhimanyu Kale, Gondia Collector during the recently held Lok Sabha bypoll in Bhandara-Gondia constituency, from conducting any electoral duties for five years.
Kale was recently transferred following glitches in the electronic voting machines (EVMs) leading to repoll at 49 centres.
The reason for the action taken against Kale was reported to be his issuing a directive to State Bank of India to keep its branches in the constituency open even on holidays till June 15 to facilitate disbursal of compensation to farmers for damages caused by pest attack on cotton and paddy.
This was just prior to the actual polling on Monday.
After media reported the matter on Monday, the ECI decided to put restrictions on Kale as regards to electoral responsibilities for the next five years.
The assumption that the move is due to the farmer relief issue is not correct.
It is one of the reasons for the action.
There were problems with EVMs and proper training had to be done prior to elections, which doesn't appear to have happened", the EC informed.