Pilibhit (UP), November 3 (PTI) Uttar Pradesh Police has initiated the process to add Section 198 of the BNS, which deals with public servants disobeying the law, to an FIR against two electoral registration officers and a computer operator over alleged irregularities in the voter list of the Pilibhit Sadar Assembly constituency, officials said on Tuesday.

    Pilibhit SP Sukirti Madhav said necessary instructions were issued to the investigating officer late Monday night, and the process of adding the section was underway.

    “Police will soon question the accused,” the officer said.

    Section 198 of the BNS deals with public servants knowingly disobeying a direction of the law with the intent or knowledge to cause injury to any person.

    On Sunday, the Election Commission suspended the two EROs, Mayank Goswami and Hemant Chaudhary, who were posted in Pilibhit as subdivisional magistrates (SDMs). They were earlier transferred by the state government and put on the waitlist.

    The irregularities came to light during an inquiry into the disposal of offline forms received as part of the Special Summary Revision (SSR) of electoral rolls.

    According to the inquiry report, 13,779 offline forms were received between May 31 and August 28. Of these, 10,470 were approved while 3,309 were rejected. However, no application forms or supporting documents related to the entries were found in the office.

    The controversy erupted following complaints that different voters were found to have identical Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC) numbers.

    A case was registered at the Pilibhit Kotwali on October 22 on a complaint by Assistant District Election Officer Krishna Kumar Kashyap against then-SDMs Goswami and Chaudhary and the computer operator, Anil Kumar.

    After examining the inquiry report, the Election Commission wrote to the chief electoral officer on October 31, directing that Section 198 of the BNS be added to the FIR and that the case be pursued in court.

    Earlier, Section 32 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, had been invoked in the case.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)
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