In a major administrative shakeup ahead of the November 30 Assembly polls in Telangana, the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Wednesday, October 11, ordered transfer of four district Collectors, three Police Commissioners, 10 district Superintendents of Police and some other officials.
According to the Times of India, the transfers were made after the ECI during their recent visit to Hyderabad found that all the 17 officials “failed to curb cash flow, maintain purity of electoral rolls and ensure inducement-free elections.”
The poll panel has asked the state government to send a panel of officers by Thursday evening for making alternate appointments. It has also directed the state government not to assign any election related works to these officers till the completion of the ongoing poll process.
The Election Commission on Wednesday issued orders transferring Rangareddy Collector M.V. Bhoopal Reddy, Medchal Malkajgiri Collector D. Amoy Kumar, Yadadri Bhuvanagiri Collector Vinay Krishna Reddy, and Nirmal Collector Varun Reddy.
It has also ordered transfers of Hyderabad Police Commissioner C V Anand, Warangal Commissioner A V Ranganath, and Nizamabad Commissioner V Satyanarayana. Apart from them, 10 district Superintendents of Police (SP) have also been transferred. They are: Sangareddy's M. Ramana Kumar, Kamareddy's B. Srinivas Reddy, Jagityal's A. Bhaskar , Mahabubnagar's K. Narasimha, Nagarkurnool's K. Manohar, Jogulamba Gadwal's K. Srujana, Mahbubabad's G. Chandramohan, Narayanpet's N. Venkateswarlu, Jayashankar Bhupalapally's P. Karunakar, and Suryapet's Rajender Prasad.
Director of Excise and Prohibition Musharraf Ali, Transport Secretary Srinivasa Raju, and Commercial Tax Commissioner T.K. Sridevi has also been transferred. The poll panel has also asked Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari to appoint full time Principal Secretaries for Excise and Commercial Taxes. Currently she holds the additional charges of both the departments.
As per a report by The Hindu, the Election Commission’s office was in real ‘foul mood’ over the Telangana police’s arrangements. The Commission was disappointed with what it perceived as “blatant misuse of authority by the State Government” in posting conferred IAS and non-cadre officers as SPs, the report said.
Disappointed over the alleged failure of the Telangana police to ensure inducement-free elections, the Election Commission, reportedly told the Telangana officials, “Are you going to conduct Assembly elections or shall we hold it ourselves?”
The Election Commission also ordered the transfer following certain complaints against the officials. A full team of EC headed by Chief Election Commission Rajiv Kumar had visited the state early this month for three days. Telangana goes to polls on November 30, and the result will be announced on December 30.