Presiding officer suspended for transporting EVM in his car

A presiding officer was suspended on Tuesday for negligence during election duty.

Deepak Khot, from the agriculture department in Dahanu, was on duty at booth number 17 at Chinchare village which falls in the Boisar Assembly constituency.

After polling on Monday, the EVM and the documents were to be transported in a designated government vehicle (MSRTC bus), said district collector Prashant Narnaware.

Khot boarded the bus with police escort and after a few kilometres, he called up zonal officer Manohar Kanade and requested him to let him transport the EVM in his car as he was getting late to reach home.

Without waiting for a written permission, Khot got down from the bus and shifted the EVM and documents to his car.

When the locals saw this, they suspected foul play and prevented him from taking the poll materials in his private car.

But Khot drove away. Kanade stopped the car midway and seized the election-related materials.

Police inspector Mahesh Patil said that a case has been registered.

The officials said the incident will not affect counting as the EVM was safely deposited.

“Khot has been issued show-cause notice and suspended,” said Kiran Mahajan, deputy collector.