Gopalganj, 14 October (NEWS IN BIHAR). Amidst the preparations for Bihar Assembly general elections, the district administration has taken a major action and taken strict action against 126 personnel who were absent from election training. District Election Officer-cum-DM Pawan Kumar Sinha has directed to stop the salary of the personnel who remain absent from training without giving any reason till further orders.

Also, clarification has been sought from everyone within 24 hours. According to the information, all these employees were selected for election duty as Presiding Officer, Polling Officer-1, Polling Officer-2 and Polling Officer-3. They had to appear in the first phase of mandatory training, which is considered an important part of the election preparations. The DM has termed absence from the training as a violation of the guidelines of the Election Commission of India.

DM showed seriousness in this whole matter and said that any kind of carelessness or indifference in election work will not be tolerated. He has directed the concerned officials to prepare a list of absent personnel and send a report to the Election Commission, so that necessary disciplinary action can be taken. According to information received from administrative sources, the employees to whom show cause notices have been issued have now started giving various arguments and clarifications in their defence. Some workers are citing health reasons while some are arguing that they are busy in personal work.

However, the district administration has made it clear that any excuse for remaining absent from the election training will not be acceptable. DM said that election is a constitutional obligation and negligence in this process will be considered as serious indiscipline. He said that every activity related to training is being monitored and if any employee is negligent in future, strict action will be taken against him. The objective of the training is to ensure complete understanding of points like voting process, operation of EVM-VVPAT, randomization process, mock poll and adherence to code of conduct, so that no technical or human error occurs on the polling day. After this strict action of DM, there is panic among the government employees of the district. Many personnel are now preparing to attend the upcoming training under any circumstances. The Election Office has also issued a message saying that election work is of highest priority and any laxity in this regard will not be tolerated.

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/ Akhilanand Mishra