Act against official for code violation in Ludhiana: ECI

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has taken a serious note of the violation of the Model Code of Conduct and service conduct rules by a government official during the ongoing by-election to the 64-Ludhiana West Assembly constituency.

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As per the report submitted by the District Election Officer, Ludhiana, and findings of the Social Media Monitoring Team, it has been established that Randeep Waraich, Executive Officer, Bholath Notified Area Committee (NAC), actively participated in an election campaign alongside Harsimran Singh, halqa in charge of the Aam Aadmi Party, in support of Sanjeev Arora, the AAP party’s candidate from the constituency. The said participation is a direct violation of Rule 5 of the Government Employees (Conduct) Rules, 1966, as applicable to Punjab Government employees.

The Commission has directed the Punjab Government to initiate disciplinary proceedings against the said official under the extant rules for imposing a major penalty.

The Commission has further told the state government to report on the action taken at the earliest.