Madhya Pradesh panchayat poll: CID inspector turns polling agent, while fake SDM ensures bogus voting

INDORE: It all happened during panchayat polls in Madhya Pradesh on Sunday. While one of the polling booths in Jhabua district saw a CID inspector acting as a sarpanch candidate’s polling agent, on the other hand a fake sub divisional magistrate allegedly orchestrated bogus voting at a polling booth in Khandwa district.
The Ranapur police in Jhabua district booked on Monday, a state criminal investigation department (CID) Kailash Bariya, presently posted in Bhopal, for allegedly acting as the polling agent of one of the village sarpanch candidates at a polling booth in his native Wadlipda village on Sunday.
Despite objection by on duty polling staff, the CID inspector continued to act as polling agent at a polling booth.
“We’ve lodged a case against the CID inspector Kailash Bariya for unduly influencing polling, despite himself being a public servant. Investigations are underway,” Ranapur police station in-charge RS Bhaskare told TOI on Monday.
The state police headquarters have also been informed about the episode.
In another shocking episode, a man posing as sub divisional magistrate (SDM) allegedly orchestrated bogus voting during the village panchayat poll at a polling booth in Garangaon village of Khandwa district.
Alleging that two men, one of them posing as an SDM stayed inside the polling booth and orchestrated bogus voting in favour of the eventual winner sarpanch candidate Priyanka Rathore on Sunday, several villagers from Garangaon submitted a complaint to additional DM Khandwa SS Baghel on Monday.
The complainant villagers alleged that the fake SDM fostered bogus voting along with an aide, after asking all polling agents to stay away from the booth.
The Khandwa ADM SS Baghel, however, maintained that the allegations being made by villagers, doesn’t sound true, as through out the polling day, none of our three election control rooms in Khandwa received any such information. “Despite this we’ll probe the alleged episode,” he added.