Chief Electoral Officer M N Vidyashankar has warned of severe disciplinary action against officials who fail to report for training programmes for election duty.

Vidyashankar on Thursday said that 30 per cent of officials enrolled for election duty had failed to report for training programmes in Bangalore on Thursday.

The absentee count was five per cent in districts, he said.

Vidyashankar warned that the erring officials will be suspended or dismissed from service if they continue to fail to attend duty.

Vidyashankar said as many 662 cases had been booked for ferrying or possessing illegal liquor and as many as 532 criminal cases had been filed for violating model code of conduct.