EC transfers six Home Secretaries, Bengal DGP

The poll body also ordered the removal of Bengal DGP Mr. Rajeev Kumar, and the Secretary of the General Administrative Departments of Mizoram and Himachal Pradesh. Also on the transfer list were Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal as well as Additional Commissioners and Deputy Commissioners of the BMC.

In West Bengal, the State administration moved swiftly to appoint Vivek Sahay as the new DGP in place of Mr. Rajeev Kumar, who had been appointed the State’s DGP three months ago. The commission’s notification said that Mr. Rajeev Kumar shall be shifted to a nonelection post with immediate effect.

Mr. Sahay was the DirectorGeneral and CommandantGeneral (Home Guards) before his new assignment.

K. Senthil Kumar who was removed from the post of Bihar Home Secretary by the commission, has had a controversial tenure, having previously served as District Magistrate of Munger and Commissioner of Patna Municipal Corporation. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had filed a chargesheet against him in 2012 in a money laundering case. The Vigilance Bureau of Bihar too had filed a chargesheet against him in a corruption case. He had also been the Health Secretary of Bihar and was appointed State Home Secretary in June 2023.

Meanwhile, according to sources, the Maharashtra Secretariat, the poll body had expressed dissatisfaction with the Chief Secretary as the State failed to comply with directives regarding the transfer of certain municipal officials who had stayed in the same post for more than two years. The EC directed the Chief Secretary to transfer Mr. Chahal and other officials in the State by evening.