Hassan: The Election Commission (EC) on Thursday transferred Hassan’s superintendent of police (SP) and changed an election observer in Mandya -- the two sensitive constituencies from where former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda's grandsons are contesting for the Lok Sabha polls.

Hassan SP AN Prakash Gowda has been transferred and Chethan Singh Rathor has come in his place. Mandya election observer Ranjit Kumar has also been changed, a senior electoral officer said.

"The ECI has transferred AN Prakash Gowda. Similarly, Mandya election observer Ranjit Kumar has also been changed," said chief electoral officer Sanjiv Kumar.

The SP Prakash Gowda was in the dock earlier for allegedly not conducting a raid. BJP later questioned as to who was backing the tainted SP.

In 2009, SP Prakash Gowda was asked to conduct a raid at a house where credible sources had said that more than Rs 1 crore was kept illegally.

However, Gowda allegedly refused to carry out the raid and was then suspended from duty.

BJP had filed multiple complaints to the EC but seems like the officer was given a clean chit by the top cops in the state so Gowda gets to be part of the election process.

The BJP had alleged misuse of official machinery and had requested the Election Commission to transfer the two officers to conduct free and fair elections in Hassan.

The BJP has questioned the SP’s induction in Hassan when he had earlier refused to carry out the raid in the JD(S) stronghold. 

Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy's nephew and Karnataka public works minister HD Revanna's son Prajwal Revanna is contesting from Hassan.

Prajwal is the grandson of former prime minister HD Deve Gowda.

Kumaraswamy's son Nikhil is fighting a tough battle in Mandya, where he is pitted against multi-lingual actress Sumalatha, widow of former minister and actor Ambareesh.

BJP MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar and MLA S Suresh Kumar had submitted a memorandum to the Election Commission on March 28 with a list of 13 officers, including Pasha and Gowda, asking it to remove them from their respective districts.