CHENNAI: Within 24 hours of announcing the schedule for the Assembly elections, the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday directed chief secretary N Muruganandam to transfer the SPs in four districts.
The SPs transferred out are K Josh Thangiah (Karur), A Sujatha (Erode), KS Balla Krishnan (Nagapattinam) and D Kannan (Virudhunagar).
Within a few hours, Home Secretary Dheeraj Kumar appointed new SPs to the four districts as directed by the ECI. The new appointees are: DN Harikiran Prasad (Karur), DV Kiran Shruthi (Erode), Sujith Kumar (Nagapattinam), and Dr N Shreenatha (Virudhunagar).
The ECI, in its communication to the chief secretary, said that the commission’s directions should be implemented with immediate effect, and that a compliance report regarding the joining of the above officers should be sent by
11 am on March 17. Further, the IPS officers transferred out should not be posted in any election-related posts till the completion of the elections. Meanwhile, AIADMK spokesperson RM Babu Murugavel, in a representation to Chief Electoral Officer Archana Patnaik, sought the transfer of Kallakurichi Collector MS Prashanth.
He alleged that the public and political stakeholders in the district perceive the present collector as politically inclined to the ruling party. To ensure free and fair elections, he urged the ECI to transfer the collector and appoint a neutral officer to supervise the election-related works.