The Election Commission issued transfer orders for eight district magistrates and 12 superintendents of police across five states on Tuesday as part of its regular review process. The decision was made during a meeting chaired by Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar alongside Election Commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, according to the EC.
"The Election Commission of India (ECI) today has issued transfer orders for District Magistrates (DM), Superintendent of Police (SP) and DIG/IG rank officers in five states namely Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. The decision was taken as part of the regular review by the Commission during a meeting chaired by Chief Election Commissioner Shri Rajiv Kumar along with Election Commissioners Shri Gyanesh Kumar and Shri Sukhbir Singh Sandhu,” the EC said.
The officials transferred are as follows :
1. Assam: DM of Udalgiri2. Bihar: a. DM and SP of Bhojpur district b. DM and SP of Nawada district3. Jharkhand: a. SP of Deoghar b. Directed to fill up vacant posts of SP (Rural) Ranchi, DIG Palamu, IG Dumka, and send a panel of officials4. Odisha: a. DM of Cuttack & Jagatsinghpur b. SP of Angul, Berhampur, Khurda, Rourkela c. DCP Cuttack & IG Central5. Andhra Pradesh: a. DM of Krishna, Ananthapuramu, Tirupati districts b. SP of Prakasam, Palnadu, Chittoor, Anantapuramu, Nellore districts c. IGP Guntur Range
Transferred officials are required to hand over charge to their immediate juniors and will not be assigned any election duties until the Lok Sabha polls conclude. State governments have been instructed to provide a panel of IAS and IPS officers, from which replacements for the transferred officials will be selected.
Earlier in March, the EC issued transfer orders for non-cadre officers holding key positions as District Magistrates (DM) and Superintendents of Police (SP) in Gujarat, Punjab, Odisha, and West Bengal. The Commission reiterated that DM and SP positions are typically held by officers from the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service, respectively.