Reshuffle in J&K before poll dates; DGP Swain loses charge of CID

The J&K administration said in an order Friday that DGP R R Swain was removed as J&K’s intelligence chief — the head of the CID — and replaced by ADGP Nitish Kumar. This comes a day after the Ministry of Home Affairs on Thursday announced that 1992-batch IPS officer Nalin Prabhat would succeed Swain as J&K DGP on October 1.

ADGP Kumar, a 1999-batch IPS officer, was originally from the J&K cadre — now part of the AGMUT cadre. He has served in the Valley for several years as SP and SSP at Handwara, and as DIG of south and north Kashmir.

During a deputation with the NIA, Kumar worked as IG (Investigations) in the central agency. On his return, he was posted as IG CID and later as ADG CID. Kumar also holds the charge of Director, State Investigation Agency.

The government has also posted eight new SPs (Operations) in the Jammu region in view of the rising militant violence there. While two SPs have been posted in Kathua, two have been posted at Rajouri. One each has been posted in Poonch, Reasi, Kishtwar, and Udhampur. These are areas that have seen a spike in militancy in recent months.

The administration also ordered the transfer of several top police officers, bringing back some old anti-militancy hands at sensitive positions, especially in Jammu.

Shiv Kumar Sharma has been posted as DIG Jammu-Samba-Kathua range, replacing Sunil Kumar. Maqsood-ul-Zaman has been posted as DIG North Kashmir, replacing Vivek Gupta, who has been posted as IGP Railways.

SSP Baramulla Amod Ashok has been posted as SSP Udhampur, while Mumtaz Ahmad has been posted as SSP Poonch, replacing Yougal Manhas, who has been sent to SIA Jammu. Mohammad Aslam has been posted as SSP Doda, while SSP Kathua, SSP Udhampur, SSP Reasi and SSP Ramban have also been replaced.

In the civil administration, Deputy Commissioner Poonch Yasin Chowdhary has been replaced by Vikas Kundal while Abishek Sharma has been posted as DC Rajouri.

The National Conference has questioned the transfers, with party vice-president Omar Abdullah calling on the Election Commission to look at these transfers from a prism of “free and fair” elections.

“That the J&K administration had to call officers in the secretariat and police HQ to work on Independence Day to order this massive reshuffle tells me they had absolutely no clue that the ECI would be announcing poll dates today. All the more reason that the ECI should look at this transfer order from the prism of a free and fair poll. NC suspects a biased intent on the part of the L-G (Lieutenant General),” he wrote on X.

The party also accused the administration of trying to “undermine” the legitimacy of the electoral process. Party general secretary Ali Mohammad Sagar said, “Why has a massive reshuffle been ordered in the police and administration since last evening, and today morning, seemingly to pre-empt the Election Commission’s announcement? It appears to have been orchestrated by a BJP-appointed L-G to benefit his party and its allies.”

Sagar said the move seems “clearly intended to undermine the integrity of the electoral process, which restricts such transfers to prevent the ruling party from gaining an undue administrative advantage over the opposition”.

He accused L-G Manoj Sinha of having “strategically shaken up the entire administrative setup compromising the principles of free and fair elections”.

At a press conference on Friday afternoon, the Election Commission has announced that J&K will hold Assembly elections in three phases — September 18, 25, and October 1. Results will be announced on October 4.

Referring to the transfer orders, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said: “Before the MCC (Model Code of Conduct) is imposed, the power to transfer is with the government. But if there is any information about anyone disturbing the level playing field, the Commission will inquire and act on it, irrespective of the timing of the transfer,” he said.