: Days after the Election Commission transferred certain IAS officials and IPS officers in the State, AIADMK MPs have urged the EC to revoke the transfer orders.
In a letter presented to Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi at Thiruvananthapuram on Monday, a team of AIADMK MPs headed by M. Thambidurai strongly protested against the transfer, which it alleged followed “motivated petitions and representations by the DMK and Congress.”
Since the notification for the May 16 Assembly polls was issued on April 22, the EC has transferred nine District Collectors, seven Superintendents of Police, five Deputy Superintendents of Police and a District Revenue Officer, besides other lower level officials, they claimed.
Such large-scale transfers were “unprecedented” in Tamil Nadu and were “administratively ill advised, disruptive of the smooth conduct of the election process, besides having an adverse impact on the morale of the official machinery,” the ruling party MPs claimed. “The sole purpose of the DMK and Congress seems to be to malign the AIADMK and give an impression that the officialdom is with the ruling party,” the letter stated, and added that except for giving names of officers, the parties had done nothing to prove partisan behaviour by the officers. “If officers are transferred on frivolous grounds to appease the DMK-Congress combine, it is tantamount to yielding to their pressure tactics and gives a false impression among the voters regarding the AIADMK and the government headed by it,” the MPs said. Meanwhile, an official release from the EC referred to an issue raised by Mr. Thambidurai over telecast of “false news on some channels and the issue of non-clarification by the official” and clarified that no money was seized during the searches in Pollachi and Korattur.
“On the basis of instructions given by the EC, the Chief Electoral Officer, Tamil Nadu has spoken to Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha Mr. Thambidurai and has taken note of his concerns,” it added.
‘No proof has been provided so far to prove partisan behaviour by officials’
