ECI transfers 6 home secys, Bengal DGP ahead of polls
IAS officers were holding dual charges, which could “compromise impartiality and neutrality”
The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday transferred West Bengal’s seniormost police officer, the home secretaries of six states and the head of the Mumbai municipal corporation in moves that officials said were aimed at ensuring free and fair general elections.
Among those transferred were Rajiv Kumar, the DGP of West Bengal — his second ECI-driven transfer since 2016 — and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation commissioner Iqbal Chahal. ECI also removed the home secretaries of Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, and the secretaries of the general administrative department in Mizoram and Himachal Pradesh.
ECI officials said the transferred IAS officers in these six states were holding dual charges with one in the office of the chief minister, which would have potentially seemed to “compromise impartiality and neutrality” required during the electoral process.
The decision was taken following a meeting of election commissioners headed by chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Monday morning, one ECI official said on condition of anonymity.
Once elections are announced—the national elections get underway from
April 19 and will be held in seven phases —officers in the Centre and states come under the ECI’s jurisdiction, which can post them anywhere till elections are over. Monday’s order is a step towards
HOME secys of Gujarat, UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, Himachal, Uttarakhand moved
AFTER polls are announced, officers in the Centre and states come under ECI’s jurisdiction
ensuring “free and fair” polls, officials said.
West Bengal DGP Rajiv Kumar, a 1989 batch IPS officer, who was named the state’s top police officer in December
2023, has been in the political spotlight after the BJP and other opposition parties accused the state police of failing to provide protection to an Enforcement Directorate (ED) team
WEST Bengal DGP Rajiv Kumar is a 1989 batch IPS officer and was named state’s top cop in Dec 2023
KUMAR has been a target of the BJP, West Bengal’s main opposition party, since 2019
that sought to question ruling Trinamool Congress strongman Shahjahan Sheikh at Sandeshkhali on 5 January. Sheikh was arrested by West Bengal police following a Calcutta High Court order on 1 March and handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation on the order of the high court on 6 March.
Kumar served as commissioner of Kolkata Police from February 2016 to February 2019. He was removed from the post in April 2016 by the ECI because of assembly elections. The government reinstated him in May 2016. Before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the state government transferred Kumar to the criminal investigation department (CID) of the state Police as additional director general.
A computer engineer from IIT Roorkee, Kumar has been a target of the BJP, West Bengal’s main opposition party, since 2019 when the CBI sought to question him in the Saradha chit fund investigation, accusing him of tampering vital evidence. Kumar, who was heading the state CID at that time, made national news by disappearing. He then appeared before the CBI in Shillong, where he was questioned for two days. After that, the government made Kumar principal secretary of the information technology department. Last year, he was appointed DGP.
West Bengal BJP spokesperson Shamik Bhattacharya welcomed the decision, accusing Kumar of bias. TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh asked the election commission under what rule Kumar has been transferred as he was posted as DGP only four months ago. “We have complied with the EC guidelines related to transfers,” Ghosh said.