EC replaces Hassan Deputy Commissioner on BJP plea

Bengaluru, March 31 (IANS) The Election Commission (EC) has shunted out Hassan Deputy Commissioner Akram Pasha following a complaint from Hassan legislator Preetham Gowda (BJP) who accused him of working in a partisan manner, an official said on Sunday.

"On the EC's directive, the state government has replaced Pasha with IAS officer Priyank Mary Francis as Hassan's new Deputy Commissioner to ensure a free and fair vote on April 18," poll official Surya Sen told IANS here.

"Preetham Gowda had complained to us that Pasha was trying to obstruct the BJP nominee from campaigning and was influencing his Vokkaliga community to vote for JD-S candidate Prajwal Revanna," said Sen.

A BJP spokesman told IANS Pasha was favouring ruling Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) candidate Prajwal in the high-profile constituency.

Prajwal is the grandson of JD-S supremo H.D. Deve Gowda and son of Gowda's second son and state Public Works Department Minister H.D. Revanna, elder brother of Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy.

Gowda, a six-time MP from Hassan since 1991, opted to contest from Tumkur, to enable Prajwal enter the fray from the JD-S bastion against BJP candidate A. Manju.

Deve Gowda's other grandson Nikhil Kumaraswamy is JD-S candidate from Mandya against actress Sumalatha Ambareesh who is contesting as Independent, supported by the BJP.

Nikhil is the son of Kumaraswamy and an upcoming actor in the Kannada film industry, which is supporting Sumalatha, whose husband M.H. Ambareesh was also an actor.

A Mandya native, Ambareesh passed away at 61 on November 24 in Bengaluru.