EC appoints new Home Secys in six states, DGP in West Bengal

The Election Commission on Tuesday appointed new Home Secretaries in six states and the Director General of Police of West Bengal, a day after removing the incumbents to ensure a level-playing field during the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.

The EC appointed Pratyaya Amrit in Bihar, A K Rakesh in Gujarat, Deepak Kumar in Uttar Pradesh, Onkar Sharma in Himachal Pradesh, Vandana Dadel in Jharkhand, and Dilip Jawalkar in Uttarakhand, sources said. The poll panel also appointed Sanjay Mukherjee as West Bengal DGP, after removing Rajeev Kumar on Monday. Kumar had also been moved away from election-related duty when he was Kolkata Police commissioner during the 2016 Bengal Assembly polls.

The EC also ordered the removal of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal as he had been in the post for over three years, which is not allowed as per EC policy.

Monday’s orders were the first set of transfers to be effected by the EC after the Model Code of Conduct came into force with the announcement of elections on March 16.