Days after announcing the calendar for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Election Commission of India ordered on Monday the dismissal of many state officials, including the home secretaries of six states and the director general of police for West Bengal, according to news agency PTI.
What directive did the Election Commission issue?
Rajeev Kumar, the West Bengal director general of police, is to be removed, according to an order from the Election Commission of India (ECI).
• Removal orders have also been issued for home secretaries in six states: Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Bihar, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand.
• Among those dismissed are the secretaries of the general administrative departments in Himachal Pradesh and Mizoram.
• In addition to other commissioners and deputy commissioners, the ECI under CEC Rajiv Kumar also issued an order to dismiss Brihanmumbai municipal commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal.
Why does ECI prosecute high-ranking officials?
According to the report, the commission had directed all state governments to transfer officials performing election-related tasks if they had been with the agency for three years or were stationed in the officers’ home areas.
According to the study, Maharashtra disregarded the orders pertaining to a number of extra and deputy municipal commissioners and some municipal commissioners.
The commission directed the transfer of BMC officials and the extra and deputy commissioners, expressing discontent with the state chief secretary and giving them until Monday at 6 p.m. to report.
The chief secretary was also instructed to move all municipal commissioners in comparable positions and any additional or deputy municipal commissioners to other Maharashtrian corporations.
“Submit names by 5 p.m. for the new West Bengal DGP”: ECI
To choose a new DGP for West Bengal, the Election Commission has requested the names of three officials by 5 p.m.
Rajeev Kumar, a senior Indian Police Service (IPS) official seen as close to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, was named state DGP by the West Bengal government in December.
Kunal Ghosh, the leader of the Trinamool Congress, criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is in power, for “trying to grab different organisations, including ECI.” They are now in charge of several organisations and central agencies.
“What we see today is the BJP’s reflection. It is making every effort to seize and keep an eye on the operations of these kinds of organisations, such as ECI,” he declared.
