ECI Ordered Re-shuffle of some Top Bureaucrats across the States and West Bengal DGP

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, Mar 18: In a bid to create level-playing fields in the Lok Sabha for all the contesting parties, the Election Commission of India on Monday ordered the removal of home secretaries of six states, including the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s home state of Gujarat, and West Bengal’s director general of police.

Besides Gujarat, the other five states where the ECI has asked for changing the home secretaries included Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, sources said. Also, the secretary of the general administrative departments of Mizoram and Himachal Pradesh and senior officials attached to the offices of the Chief Ministers of the two states.

The commission had directed all the State governments to transfer officers connected with election-related work, who have completed three years or are in their home districts. Maharashtra had not complied with the directions in respect of few municipal commissioners and some additional and deputy municipal commissioners.

While conveying displeasure to the State Chief Secretary, the commission directed transfer of BMC and the additional and deputy commissioners with the direction to report by 6 pm on Monday. The Chief Secretary was also directed to transfer all the similarly placed municipal commissioners and additional or deputy municipal commissioners of other corporations in Maharashtra.

Among the transfers ordered by the Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar included the Brihanmumbai Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal, additional commissioners and deputy commissioners.

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 poll-related violence in recent years. The poll panel further said a shortlist of three potential replacements had to be prepared and submitted by 5 pm.

The re-shuffle, not an uncommon move by the Election Commission before major polls, also include various officials in municipalities across Maharashtra. All of this comes just a month before the 2024 Lok Sabha poll beginning on April 19 and run over seven phases till June 1. This is the first bureaucratic re-jig by the ECI since it announced polling dates on Saturday.

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 poll 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.

For example, in the case of Uttar Pradesh, Sanjay Prasad – the Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath – had been given additional charge of the Home Department in 2022.

Bengal’s ruling Trinamool has not yet reacted to the removal of DGP Rajiv Malik, who is seen by some to be close to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s party. In the past, the state government has questioned the last-minute re-shuffle of senior civil service and police officials so close to an election, arguing it actually hampers prep work since the new faces need time to adjust to the post.

Bengal has frequently witnessed violence during polling season; in June last year over a dozen people were killed across the state as voting for a panchayat election was underway. The Trinamool had accused the opposition, particularly the BJP in this case, of instigating violence and had criticised central forces for their failure to protect voters, while the Congress claimed the state had let thugs loose on the people.

While announcing the dates on Saturday, the Chief Election Commissioner said the poll panel would take a very dim view of any violence during the election. Mr Kumar said the ECI was prepared to come down hard on any such incident. “We’re putting political parties on notice,” he had declared.