The demand from officials for revoking the suspension of four officials over the security breach at the counting centre in Madurai continued on Thursday with two more associations issuing statements in support of them.
G. Suresh, State president, Tamil Nadu Village Administrative Officers Development Association, in a statement said that it was routine for officials to carry out work based on oral instructions, particularly during busy times like elections. Claiming that the officials went to the counting centre on the instructions of senior officials and there were no malafide intentions involved, the association said it was the responsibility of the District Election Officer to guard the officials against such allegations.
The Madurai branch of Retired Officials’ Association also demanded that the suspension must be revoked, saying the four officials visited only the rooms where the documents were kept and not the strong rooms containing the Electronic Voting Machines and Voter-verified Paper Audit Trails.