Rival parties accuse Cong candidate of flouting ZP poll code

Acting on a complaint, election officials on Sunday visited Kaggalipura village in Bengaluru South taluk where a Congress nominee for the zilla panchayat Parveez was accused by rival parties of violating the election code of conduct.

They said he was distributing drinking water cans to villagers from a water purifier plant installed on the gram panchayat property.

A team of officials, including returning officer Raghumurthy and executive officer Dyamappa, accompanied by the police succeeded in handing over the water purifier plant to the gram panchayat. Earlier, it was being operated by Parveez.

According to officials, Parveez installed a water purifier unit on the gram panchayat land three months ago at a cost of Rs 15-20 lakh and started distributing drinking water to villages in cans for a nominal charge.

Water cans
With the elections to the zilla panchayat approaching, rival candidates said that Parveez violated the election code by distributing water cans with his photograph on them. They also accused him of misusing the water plant which was supposed to be operated by the panchayat.

Officials told Deccan Herald that no complaint was registered against Parveez. Just as the plant was handed over to the panchayat, an FIR was filed against panchayat development officer (PDO) Fatima for failing to take action despite direction from higher-ups to ensure handing over of the water plant to the panchayat.
DH News Service