The Election Commission on Monday ordered the transfers of the home secretaries of Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, The Times of India reported.
The polling body also removed the secretaries of the general administrative department in Mizoram and Himachal Pradesh from their posts, the newspaper reported.
The Election Commission also removed West Bengal Director General of Police Rajeev Kumar from his post, according to The Indian Express. However, soon after his removal the West Bengal government appointed him as the secretary of the information and technology department.
Vivek Sahay has been appointed as the new director general of police of West Bengal.
The directions from the Election Commission came after it announced the schedule for the Lok Sabha polls on Saturday. The orders from the polling body are said to be part of its efforts to maintain a level-playing field for the electoral process.
On March 16, the Election Commission announced that the 2024 Lok Sabha elections will be held in seven phases from April 19 to June 1. The results will be announced on June 4.
The poll body had earlier directed the state governments to transfer officers who have been working in connection with the upcoming elections, who have completed a term of three years in their post or are working in their home districts, reported PTI.
The Election Commission particularly expressed its displeasure to Maharashtra’s chief secretary as the state government is yet to order the long-standing transfers of a few municipal commissioners and additional and deputy municipal commissioners.
The Maharashtra government had been asked by the poll body in February to transfer Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation chief Iqbal Singh Chahal and report back to it by Monday.
Chahal, an Indian Administrative Service officer from the 1989 batch of the Maharashtra cadre, is the state-appointed administrator of Mumbai’s civic body. The elections for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation have been due for over two years.