AP Assembly Elections: ECI directs CEO not to continue any officer related to election duty in same district

AMARAVATI: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday directed Mukesh Kumar Meena, Chief Electoral Officer of Andhra Pradesh, and CEOs of Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha, and Sikkim that no officer connected directly with elections shall continue in the present revenue district of posting.

The ECI in preparation for the ensuing elections to be held in AP and three other States said that the officers must be transferred or promoted if they were posted in the home district, completed three years in that district, and directed the CEO of that State to mention if such posting was not possible due to the small pool of officers available for such adjustments.

The instructions covered district officers like DEOs, Dy DEOs, RO, AROs, EROs, AEROs, nodal officers, ADMs, SDMs, dy collectors, joint collectors, tehsildars, block development officers, or any other officer directly deployed for election work. The directive also applies to officers other than district officers working in municipal corporations and development authorities.

Police department officers include range ADGs, IGs, DIGs, commandants of State armed police, SSPS, SPs, and addl. SPs, sub-divisional head of police, SHOS, inspectors, sub-inspectors, Ris / sergeant majors or equivalent ranks, or equivalent ranks, who were responsible for security arrangement or deployment of police forces in the district at election time. The orders mentioned that sub-inspectors and above should not be posted in their home.

If a police sub-inspector completed or would be completing a tenure of three years out of four years on or before the cutoff date in a place, then he should be transferred out to a police sub-division that does not fall in the same Assembly Constituency. If that is not possible due to the small size of the district, he or she should be transferred out of the district. Orders also apply to the Prohibition and Excise Department of the State of the rank of sub-inspector and above.

It was further directed that the officers/officials against whom the Commission had recommended disciplinary action in the past and which was pending or which had resulted in a penalty or the officers who were charged for any lapse in any election or election-related work in the past, should not be assigned any election-related duty.

The Commission desired that no officer, against whom a criminal case related to official functioning was pending in any court of law, be associated with or deployed on election-related duty.

During an election, a large number of employees would be drafted for different types of election duty and the Commission had no intention of massive dislocation of state machinery by large-scale transfers. Hence, the aforesaid transfer policy was normally not applicable to the categories of officers mentioned below:

• Officers posted in the State headquarters of the department concerned.

• Officers/Officials who are not directly connected with elections like doctors, engineers, teachers/principals, etc.

• The officers appointed as sector officers/zonal Magistrates involved in election duties are not covered under these instructions.

However, the observers, CEO/DEOs, and ROs should keep a close watch on their conduct to ensure that they are fair and nonpartisan in the performance of their duties, the ECI said.