Patna, Oct 28: Bihar government has removed the Returning Officer of Sitamarhi assembly seat Balram Prasad Singh following a directive of the election commission to ensure free and fair by-election slated for November 20. Singh had been charged with non-compliance of EC directives as returning officer of Sitamarhi constituency during the 2000 assembly polls.

The EC had on October 24 directed Bihar chief secretary K A H Subramanium to immediately replace Singh with a suitable officer in consultation with state electoral officer to ensure free and fair by-poll at Sitamarhi.
Accordingly, the state personnel department had recommended names of Bettiah SDO Sita Chowdhury, Muzzafarpur East SDO Mohan Ram and Belsand SDO Tarini Das to state Chief Electoral Officer Afzal Amanullah for selection as the new Sitamarhi Returning Officer.


State election office approved the name of Tarini Das to take over as Sitamarhi SDO-cum-returning officer today.


Supreme Court had set aside the election of Shahid Ali Khan (RJD), who had won by a margin of only 35 votes in 2000 and declared Hari Shanker Prasad (BJP) elected. Prasad later died necessitating the by-poll.
Bureau Report