Within 48 hours of announcing the election schedule, the Election Commission of India on March 18 ordered the transfer of a host of senior officials in various States, including the Home Secretaries of Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand as well as West Bengal’s Director-General of Police, Rajeev Kumar.
The transfers according to the commission are part of its efforts to maintain a level-playing field and ensure the integrity of the electoral process.
The decisions were taken after a meeting of the full commission comprising Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar and Election Commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu here, sources said.
On March 16, the election panel had announced the schedule for the general election which will begin on April 19 and continue till June 1. The counting of votes would be held on June 4.
While announcing the schedule, the CEC had said that the commission would ensure a level playing field for all political parties. On March 11, the CEC had directed more than 2,100 election observers, who would be deployed in States and Union Territories across the country, to ensure a level playing field in the entire process.
Apart from the Home Secretaries of Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, 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 non-election post with immediate effect.
Mr. Sahay, a 1988-batch IPS officer, was the Director-General and Commandant-General (Home Guards) before his new assignment.
K. Senthil Kumar, a 1996-batch IAS officer 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 of ₹2.60 crore along with three others. The Vigilance Bureau of Bihar too had filed chargesheet against him and 11 others in a ₹8.76-crore corruption case. He had also been Health Secretary of Bihar and was appointed State Home Secretary in June 2023.
Meanwhile, according to sources at Mantralaya, 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.
An IAS officer from the 1989 batch, Mr. Chahal, presently serves as the State-appointed administrator of the BMC, for which elections are overdue. Several ambitious projects, including Coastal Road, were initiated during his tenure. He also held office during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and was later questioned by the ED over allegations that he illegally awarded contracts during the lockdown.
