58 per cent officers fail poll panel test in Madhya Pradesh

Bhopal: Around 58 percent officers of Madhya Pradesh government, who appeared in an examination conducted recently by the Election Commission to test their preparedness to hold polls, have failed to qualify in it, taking EC by surprise. Chief Electoral Officer of MP V L Kantha Rao has written letters to all the district collectors in the state to ensure that the officers participating in the coming examination of the EC cleared it.

“Around 58 percent of officers who had appeared the EC test on August 18 have not done well. It was the second attempt for majority of those officers who had fared poorly in the test held earlier,” Mr Rao told reporters here on Monday.

Incidentally, majority of them have conducted one or two elections in the past. Mr Rao has reportedly warned the unsuccessful officers to come well prepared for the next examination, CEO sources said.

Sources said out of 567 officers including deputy collectors, tehsildars and Naib tehsildars, appeared the August 18 EC test, only 244 qualified.

Sources suspected that many officers might have fared poorly in the examination deliberately to avoid poll duty in the forthcoming assembly elections in MP, slated for November-December this year.

“It is surprising that majority of the officers who failed to clear the test have the experience of conducting polls earlier. This has given rise to suspicion that some of them might have fared poorly in the test deliberately to avoid poll duty”, sources in CEO’s office said.