VELLORE: Two assistant zonal officials involved in conducting postal ballot voting in Anaicut constituency were suspended on Sunday following allegations of discrepancy by an AIADMK district party member. The suspended officials, Nagalingam and Velmurugan, were involved in postal ballot voting for senior citizens over 85 years of age and disabled persons on Saturday (April 11).
In his complaint to district election officer VR Subbulaxmi, AIADMK district advocates’ wing secretary R Govindaswamy, said, “In booth numbers 62 and 125 in Anaicut, some postal votes were recorded in the absence of the voters. This constitutes a punishable offence under the Representation of the People’s Act, 1951.” He alleged that at the behest of DMK candidate and sitting MLA AP Nandakumar, officials from teams 3 and 5 acted in a biased manner.
Govindasawamy told to TNIE, “An 85-year-old in Anaicut was away at his agricultural field when the officials came for postal voting. However, the officials cast his vote, and then used his wife’s thumbprint to validate it. In another case, that postal votes which were supposed to be collected on Sunday were already collected on Saturday.”