Bengaluru, Apr 9 (IANS): The Karnataka government on Tuesday transferred the high-profile Mandya Lok Sabha constituency's returning officer, Deputy Commissioner N Manjushree, on the Election Commission's direction.
"On the EC directive, Commissioner of Public Instruction P C Jaffer has been posted as Deputy Commissioner and returning officer of Mandya with immediate effect," said an official statement here.
The poll panel's direction came after the Bharatiya Janata Party filed a complaint against Manjushree for allegedly favouring Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) candidate Nikhil K, son of Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, and being biased against his Independent rival, multilingual actress Sumalatha Ambareesh, whom the BJP is supporting.
Polling in Mandya and 13 other seats will be be held on April 18 in the first phase of the Lok Sabha election in Karnataka.