The Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK)-led Tamil Nadu government has reportedly asked State Election Commissioner B Jothi Nirmalasamy to resign, according to a report by The Times of India. Notwithstanding the constitutional validity, the government has reportedly asked the IAS officer, a recipient of the Kalpana Chawla Award, to step down.
A 1992-batch IAS officer and recipient of the Kalpana Chawla Award, Jothi Nirmalasamy was appointed Tamil Nadu State Election Commissioner in March 2024 by the previous DMK government, succeeding retired IAS officer V Palanikumar.
The reported request comes amid a series of resignations by senior retired officials appointed to statutory positions during the previous administration.
Recently, retired IAS officer Shiv Das Meena resigned as chairperson of the Tamil Nadu Real Estate Regulatory Authority (TNRERA). Authority members L Subramanian and C Sukumar also stepped down from their posts.
Earlier, former Director General of Police (DGP) Shankar Jiwal resigned as chairperson of the Tamil Nadu Fire Commission, while former DGP Sunil Kumar stepped down as chairperson of the Tamil Nadu Uniformed Services Recruitment Board.
According to the report, the government has similarly sought Nirmalasamy’s resignation as part of efforts to replace officials appointed by the previous government.
Nirmalasamy currently heads the State Election Commission, which is overseeing the phased introduction of electronic voting machines (EVMs) for rural local body elections. The commission has procured around 50,000 EVMs from BHEL for the rollout, enabling voters to cast four votes electronically.
She also chairs the delimitation commission responsible for redrawing local body boundaries ahead of elections. The commission is currently carrying out delimitation in 27 districts, including four municipal corporations, 12 municipalities and several rural local bodies.
The tenure of rural local bodies in 28 districts ended on January 1, 2025, while the terms of local bodies in the remaining nine districts are set to expire on October 19, 2026. The tenure of all urban local bodies is scheduled to end on March 1, 2027.
Officials quoted by The Times of India pointed to constitutional safeguards governing the office of the State Election Commissioner. According to them, under the Constitution, a State Election Commissioner cannot be removed except in the same manner and on the same grounds as a judge of a High Court.
