Election Commission orders removal of home secretaries in 6 states, Bengal DGP

NEW DELHI: The Election Commission on Monday ordered the removal of home secretaries of six states - Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, HP, and Uttarakhand who are holding charges in chief minister offices.

The secretary of the general administrative department in Mizoram and Himachal Pradesh have also been removed.

The poll panel has also directed all the state governments to transfer the officers connected with election-related work, who have completed three years or are in their home districts.

Additionally, the Commission has ordered for the transfer of BMC and the additional/Deputy commissioners with the direction to report by 6pm today.

The order comes days after the Election Commission announced seven-phase polls that will stretch for one-and-a-half-months, between April 19 and June 1, followed by counting for all seats on June 4. These will be the longest general elections since the polls of 1951-52 that lasted more than four months.

The EC declared that 102 parliamentary constituencies (PCs) will vote in the first phase on April 19, 89 in Phase 2 on April 26, 94 in Phase 3 on May 7, 96 in Phase 4 on May 13, 49 in Phase 5 on May 20, and 57 each in Phase 6 on May 25 and Phase 7 on June 1.