India’s Election Commission yesterday issued orders for the removal of six Home Secretaries – including the top bureaucrats from Gujarat, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh.
The poll panel also directed the transfer of West Bengal’s Director-General of Police, the top cop of a state that has seen several instances of polls-related violence in recent years. The polls panel further said a shortlist of three potential replacements had to be prepared.
The re-shuffle, not an uncommon move by the Election Commission before major polls, also includes the transfer of the Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand Home Secretaries, as well as senior officials attached to the offices of the Mizoram and Himachal Pradesh Chief Ministers.
In addition, Iqbal Singh Chahal, who is Commissioner of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, and other officials in municipalities across Maharashtra, have been removed too.
All of this comes less than a month before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls; the ECI on Saturday said voting will begin on April 19 and run over seven phases till June 1.
This is, in fact, the first bureaucratic re-jig by the ECI since it announced polling dates.
The ECI’s move comes after a meeting of Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar and his two associates, the newly-appointed Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu. This step comes as part of the polls panel’s commitment to ensure a level playing field for all political parties in the forthcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, as well as by-polls for 26 seats in 13 states.
Sources said the personnel removed were found to be holding dual charge in the offices of the respective chief ministers of each state, and this could compromise, or be seen to be compromising, required neutrality, particularly in relation to law-and-order before, during and after polling.
Source: NDTV Online
