CHENNAI: State Election Commissioner (SEC) Jothi Nirmalasamy has been ‘asked’ to step down from her post despite having around two years and eight months remaining in her tenure. Sources said she is reluctant to resign since the office of the State Election Commissioner is a constitutional post on par with that of a high court judge.
Sources said that in the past, the SEC who stepped down from the post on his own was Syed Munir Hoda, who served between June 2010 and May 2011. He was appointed during the DMK regime, and when the AIADMK came to power, he resigned on his own.
They added that, just to indicate that she is above political leanings and would continue to discharge her duties in the same manner till completing her term, Nirmalasamy paid a courtesy visit to Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay after he assumed office.
After the TVK government assumed office, many retired officials who were appointed to key positions during the DMK regime resigned their posts. They include State Planning Commission executive vice-chairman J Jeyaranjan; Shankar Jiwal, chairman,
TN Fire Commission; Sunil Kumar, chairman, TN Uniformed Services Recruitment Board; R Manivannan, chairman, TN Electricity Regulatory Commission; Shiv Das Meena, chairman, TNRERA, and L Subramanian and C Sukumar, members of TNRERA.