RO demands reduction in Raja spending, alleges AEO in Nilgiris constituency

AN Assistant Expenditure Observer in the Nilgiris Lok Sabha constituency has written to the Chief Electoral Officer of Tamil Nadu alleging that the Returning Officer demanded he reduce the expenditure recorded as spent by DMK candidate A Raja to closer match the candidate's accounts.

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According to P Saravanan, the AEO, the shadow observation register (SOR) maintained by him showed a difference in expenditure to the tune of several lakhs of rupees. However, the RO M Aruna, who is also the Nilgiris collector, has refuted the allegations, pointing out that Saravanan is only one of six AEOs monitoring candidate expenditure from different locations.

"I did not ask him to record a lower expenditure for the DMK candidate. On the instructions of the observers, I checked the expenditure documents of all the candidates. I did pull up this AEO for errors in the record," Aruna told TNIE.