Two IPS officers face action for ‘interfering’ in elections, Odisha govt gives them a month to respond

The two officers were believed to be close to former chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s private secretary V K Pandian.

Both have been posted as officers on special duty (OSD) in the home department.

In its charges, the state government claims that Kutey, whom the EC had suspended in May over alleged “election interference”, had directed the Khurda district collector to arrest a candidate — BJP’s Prasanta Jagadev — on the day of polling on May 25.

The statement also accuses him of making calls to the additional chief election officer and chairman of the Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC) over a political advertisement from a party.

“On late evening of May 24, Kutey made repeated calls to the Additional CEO and Chairman of the MCMC, expressing his displeasure over approval of the advertisement. He also asked the Additional CEO to withdraw the approval immediately, so that the advertisement could not get published in newspapers on May 25 (poll day),” the charges read.

This type of interference in the election machinery “violates Rule-5 (4) of the All-India Services (Conduct) Rules, 1968 as well as the Model Code of Conduct issued for smooth conduct of election in a free and fair manner,” it states.

“Such action is unbecoming of a member of the All-India Service of his rank and seniority. Therefore, the aforementioned conduct of Kutey constitutes gross misconduct which violates Rule-3 and Rule-5 (4) of the All-India Services (Conduct) Rules, 1968,” it states.

Singh, who had served in key positions during Patnaik’s rule, too came under the ECI scanner for going on “medical leave” from May 4, even though a medical board from the AIIMS, Bhubaneswar, had eventually declared him “mentally and physically fit”. Based on this, the poll panel had found that it was a case of “misrepresentation of facts”, the charges against him state.

The state government has given both officers 30 days to submit their response, asking them to specifically “admit” or “deny” each charge.

“An inquiry will be held only in respect of those article of charge as are not admitted,” the state government’s notice said.