Dhamnagar: Dhamnagar Notified Area Council (NAC) Executive Officer Santosh Kumar Nayak was suspended over allegations of misuse of Form-7 and onetime passwords (OTPs) during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
Nayak was suspended Monday.
The suspension was ordered by the Additional Chief Electoral Officer and Principal Secretary to the state government, following a recommendation from the Election Commission, according to the report.
The action followed allegations that more than 3,000 voters, particularly from minority communities, had been targeted for deletion from electoral rolls in 11 NAC wards covering 19 polling booths. The allegations had earlier been raised by the Biju Janata Dal, while booth-level officers reportedly lodged a complaint at Dhamnagar police station against Nayak. According to the allegations, Nayak had obtained OTPs from BLOs and used Form-7 applications to seek deletion of voters’ names without following the prescribed procedure.
The claims have been the subject of complaints and an inquiry; they should not be treated as established fi ndings unless confirmed by the competent authorities. The Election Commission has previously stated that Form-7 is used for seeking deletion of names from electoral rolls and that prescribed verification procedures must be followed before deletion.
