Senior babus apply to ECI to skip election duties

GANDHINAGAR: Ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls applications to skip election duty from senior bureaucrats of Gujarat have begun piling up before Election Commission seeking exemption from responsibilities of an election observer. Most of these officers have cited personal reasons ranging from health issues, their children’s board exam, urgent government official work, or even seniority as principal secretary level officers are not supposed to go on election duty.
“59 IAS officers and 15 IPS officers have been allotted election observer duties. The state government will have to make alternate arrangement till these officers remain in other states as observers,” said sources in general administration department (GAD).
A senior official of GAD told TOI, “Some principal secretaries and many secretary rank officers have requested for an exemption from the election observer duty.” He added, “We have forwarded their requests to the chief electoral officer (CEO), ECI, and the chief minister’s office (CMO) for the response. Those who will get written exemption from ECI can avoid election observer duty.’’
Babus who don’t want election duty
A K Rakesh (1989 batch), principal secretary, panchayat, rural housing & rural development; Sunaina Tomar (1989 batch), principal secretary, ports & transport; Manoj Aggarwal(1990 batch), principal secretary, social justice & empowerment; Arun Solanki (1990 batch), MD, GMDC; Jayanti Ravi(1991 batch), principal secretary & commissioner, health & family welfare department; Jagdish Prasad Gupta, principal secretary, armada, water resources, water supply and kalpasar department (water supply); Kamal Kumar Dayani, principal secretary, food, civil supply & consumer affairs department; Mamta Verma (1996 batch IAS), industries commissioner; Mukesh Kumar (1996 batch IAS), CEO, Gujarat Maritime Board