RAMPUR: The Election Commission has transferred district magistrate of Rampur Amit Kishore following complaints by BJP and BSP candidates to the chief election commission (CEC) Naseem Zaidi . He has been replaced by Raj Shekhar, who was posted as director of mandi parishad in Lucknow.The EC have also ordered the transfer of Jaunpur and Hamirpur district magistrates.The candidates in Rampur alleged proximity between Kishore, who was posted in the district for the past three-and-a-half years, with state urban development minister and Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan. They said they feared that his presence would affect counting of votes on March 11.Terming the allegations levelled against him as "baseless", Kishore said, "Elections in all the five assembly seats in the district have taken place under the presence of observers appointed by the EC. Administrative officials have played an unbiased role. The counting of votes will also be carried out in the presence of observers."The BJP and the BSP candidates registered their complaints against DM Kishore separately.BJP candidate and former minister Shiv Bhadur Saxena said CEC Zaidi had assured him that proper action would be taken in the matter and special observers would be appointed by the commission on the day of counting of the votes.BSP candidate Tanveer Ahmed Khan, who had also met Zaidi, had alleged tampering of EVMs by the electoral officers posted at polling booths in the city.Khan said he had produced "authentic evidence" before the CEC and presented a video of a conversation between electoral officer. The CEC, he said, has set up a special team of observers who would first monitor the seals of the EVMs and also match the signatures of the polling agents and the electoral officers who were posted in the polling booths. Only observers would be allowed during counting of the votes.

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