NILGIRIS PLOT: POLL OFFICER KNOCKS AT TN CEO'S DOOR

An Assistant Expenditure Observer (AEO) 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 match the candidate's accounts.

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P Saravanan, the AEO, claimed the shadow observation register (SOR) maintained by him showed a difference in expenditure of several lakhs of rupees.

The RO M Aruna, also the Nilgiris collector, refuted the allegations, pointing out that Saravanan is only one of six AEOS monitoring candidate expenditure from different locations.

"I didn't ask him to record a lower expenditure for the DMK candidate. As instructed by observers, I checked expenditure reports of all candidates. I did pull up this AEO for errors in the record," she told TNIE. 

AS per the election expenditure report of A Raja, there is a difference of ₹41,00,649 between the candidate's expenditure register, which showed expenses of ₹13,44,012 and the SOR which showed expenses of ₹54,44,661 till the date of inspection on April 8.