Crime Branch told to submit report by May 15 says, CEO Teeka Ram Meena
THIRUVANANTHARURAM: Chief Electoral Officer Teeka Ram Meena on Friday said the progress of the crime branch investigations into the bogus postal votes and malpractices will be monitored regularly.
At a press conference Meena said that the Crime Branch which is investigating the police postal ballot malpractice has been directed to submit detailed report by May 15. “The crime branch and the police department have to take prompt action on the complaints. We will get action taken report from them. We are not going to sit quiet. In the event of slow pace of investigation, we will definitely question the lag and also evaluate the progress of the probe,” he said.
The CEO said that the Election Commission was also closely observing the investigations here. “We have to submit progress report to the EC at regular intervals,” he added.
The CEO said that a total of 63,538 total postal ballots were sent to districts. Of these 7924 have been received so far. The highest postal ballots were received in Thiruvananthapuram -1048 of the total of 5852. As per rules, the postal ballots should reach by 8 am on May 23, the counting day
More than 50,000 postal ballots are yet to be received. But it will not be factual to say that all 50,000 are bogus votes. There have been instances of postal ballots lying in post offices. “We are taking stock of the situation on a daily basis,” he said.
On the allegations of former chief minister Oommen Chandy, the CEO said that there have been complaints from a section of people. Such complaints come up not only in Kerala but also in other states. “We need to examine the veracity of these complaints. In case if there are specific complaints then those would be looked into by the EC,” he said.
Mr Meena said 13 lakh new voters had been included in the electoral rolls this time which was a big achievement.
On the Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s pat, he said that it was big encouragement for officials like him and his entire team. “Only the chief minister can take such a stand. It is very encouraging for us and gives us the strength to implement the rule of law,” he said.
