Chief electoral officer seeks VRS

Karnataka's chief electoral officer R Ramaseshan has reportedly sought voluntary retirement from government service. The move, that comes at a time when the state is getting ready to go to the hustings, has baffled the political circles.

A 1982-batch IAS officer, Ramaseshan has been the chief electoral officer since September 2005. He has been instrumental in ushering in several poll reforms, prominent among them being development of a software geared to making electoral rolls foolproof. On the reasons for quitting, Ramaseshan refused to reply. "It is for highly personal reasons,'' he said.

In another development, IPS officer and additional commissioner of police (Bangalore city traffic) K C Ramamurthy was relieved from service on Monday.

Meanwhile, the draft electoral rolls of Bangalore Urban district were published on Monday. Speaking to reporters here, deputy commissioner M A Sadiq said there were 3.9 million voters in the four assembly segments of Yelahanka, Uttarahalli, Varthur and Anekal. Of these, two million are male and 1.8 million are female voters. Objections to the draft rolls will be invited till February 26.

For details, visit the Election Commission website: ceokarnataka.kar.nic.in.