Teacher suspended from election duty for selfie inside booth

An assistant teacher was suspended for posting as a polling officer and clicking selfie inside the polling booth on 22 May, Wednesday, in Hamirpur during the Lok Sabha elections

UP's chief electoral officer Navdeep Rinwa stated that Ashish Kumar Arya, an assistant teacher at Girls Primary School, Umri of Hamirpur district, was deployed on duty as polling officer (first) at polling station 112 of Shri Vidya Mandir Inter College.

Rinwa said it is alleged that Arya took selfies with his mobile phone and took photographs of voters on the day of voting, which is a clear violation of the instructions of the Election Commission of India.

He said owinf to this "serious violation", the district basic education officer of Hamirpur has suspended Arya and attached him to the block resource center in Muskara.

The block education officer headquarters has been designated as the investigating officer to probe the matter, the statement said.

The chief electoral officer has cautioned polling personnel to strictly follow the instructions of the commission during the election process and avoid any kind of inappropriate activities, it said