Election Commission removes home ministers of 6 states and Bangladesh’s top police officer

New Delhi:

The Election Commission on Monday afternoon issued an order removing six home secretaries, including senior bureaucrats from Gujarat, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

The poll panel also directed the transfer of the West Bengal police chief, the top police officer in the state which has seen several incidents of poll-related violence in recent years. The poll panel further said that a shortlist of three potential replacements must be prepared and submitted by 5 pm.

The reshuffle, a common move by the Election Commission ahead of major polls, also includes transfers of home ministers from Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, as well as those from Mizoram and Himachal Pradesh Senior officials in the chief minister’s office.

Besides, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal and other officials from various municipalities in Maharashtra have also been removed from their posts.

All this happens less than a month away from the 2024 Lok Sabha polls; polling will begin on April 19 and be conducted in seven phases till June 1, the ECI said on Saturday.

In fact, this is the first bureaucratic shake-up by the ECI since the poll date was announced.

The move by the ECI comes after Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar and his two colleagues, newly appointed Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu Sukhbir Singh Sandhu) after a meeting. The move is part of the poll panel’s commitment to ensure a level playing field for all political parties in the upcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections and by-elections to 26 seats in 13 states.

Sources said the removed officers were found to be holding double duty in the offices of the respective chief ministers of the states, which could compromise or be seen as compromising the required neutrality, especially in the context of law and order ahead of the polls and After voting.

Bengal’s ruling Trinamool party has yet to react to the ouster of deputy attorney general Rajiv Malik, considered by some to be close to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s party. In the past, the state government has questioned last-minute reshuffles of senior civil servants and police officials in the run-up to elections, arguing that it actually hampers preparations as new faces take time to get used to the posts.

Bengal is prone to violence during polling season; more than a dozen people were killed across the state in June last year as panchayat polls were being held.

The Trinamool accuses the opposition of fomenting violence and criticizes central forces for failing to protect voters, while the Congress party claims the state has allowed thugs to harm people.

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Announcing the date on Saturday, the Chief Electoral Commissioner said poll panels would be very pessimistic about any violence during the elections. Mr. Kumar said the ECI was ready to take strict action against any such incident. “We are sending a warning to political parties,” he declared.

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