Telangana polls: Amid abrupt transfer of senior bureaucrats and cops, IAS officer questions ECI move

The 2004 batch officer, who currently works as Secretary to the government in the Department of Finance, was on September 25 given the charge of Commissioner of Commercial Taxes. The ECI team visited the state between October 3 and 5 to assess the poll preparedness. On October 11, the poll panel ordered the transfer of four district collectors, three other bureaucrats including Sridevi, and 13 senior police officers, including Hyderabad police commissioner C V Anand, a DG-rank officer. Interestingly, the ECI has also asked the state government not to assign any election-related duties to these officers. They have been replaced by junior-ranked officers.

How can an officer who has taken charge 3 working days before the visit of the CEC to the state held responsible for the performance of the department? Just asking??

— TK Sreedevi (@tksreedevi) October 12, 2023

Among the officers transferred out were district collectors Vinay Kumar Reddy of Yadadri-Bhuvanagari, K Varun Reddy of Nirmal, Harish Reddy of Rangareddy, and D Amoy Kumar of Medchal-Malkajgiri. Besides TK Sridevi, other IAS officers transferred out were the director of the Prohibition and Excise Department Musharraf Faruqui and Secretary (Transport) K S Srinivasa Raju. Police Commissioner of Warangal A V Ranganath and Commissioner of Nizamabad V Satyanarayana were among the four IPS officers transferred out. Meanwhile, nine of the ten district superintendents of police transferred out were non-cadre officers.

The ECI has been stern with regard to the flow of money and freebies during elections and has asked officials to be impartial and ensure a level playing field for all. The officers have been asked to crack the whip and ensure zero tolerance for violation of the model code of conduct (MCC).

However, with the transfer orders coming in just two days into the announcement of polls, many officers wondered how their performance could be evaluated within just two days of enforcement of the model code in the state. Some also wondered how these transfers could be justified since departments including transport and commercial taxes are not directly involved in the conduct of elections.

Telangana goes to polls on November 30 and the votes will be counted on December 3. The ECI announced the poll schedule on October 9, when the MCC also came into force in the state. In three days since, the state has witnessed an unprecedented seizure of cash, gold, liquor and other inducements, together worth about Rs 37.07 crore.

This includes net cash of Rs 20.43 crore, gold, silver and diamonds worth Rs 14.65 crore, and liquor worth Rs 86.92 lakh that was recovered from across the state between 6 am on October 9 and 6 am on October 12 after those found in possession of these goods failed to produce valid documents. Besides the seizure of ganja worth Rs 89 lakh, authorities also recovered rice worth Rs 22.5 lakh, 440 sarees, 80 sewing machines, 87 pressure cookers and a car.