3 Collectors, 5 SPs, 1 IG transferred in AP

Tirupati: In a sudden move, the Election Commission of India (ECI) transferred three District Election Officers, five Superintendents of Police and one Inspector General of Police on Tuesday.

In a letter to the Chief Secretary, Principal Secretary of ECI Avinash Kumar has mentioned that these officials were transferred with immediate effect.

The transferred officials include Tirupati District Election Officer (DEO) Dr G Lakshmisha, Krishna DEO P Raja Babu and Ananthapuramu DEO M Gowthami. Prakasam district SP P Parameswar Reddy, Palnadu SP Y Ravi Sankar Reddy, Chittoor SP P Joshua, Anantapur SP KKN Anburajan and Nellore SP K Tirumaleswar.

Further, Guntur Range Inspector General of Police G Pala Raju was also transferred by the ECI. Significantly both the Collector and SP of Anantapur were transferred. The EC also directed that these officers handover the charge to the officer immediately below in rank and the transferred officials should not be assigned to any election related works till completion of the elections in AP.

The ECI also requested the Chief Secretary to furnish a panel of three IAS officers and a panel of three IPS officers for each of the districts where the present officers were transferred. They had directed that the panel of names be sent by Tuesday evening along with their annual performance assessment reports (APAR) grading for the last five years and vigilance clearance to the Election Commission.

It may be recalled here that the ECI took the decision to transfer the officials in various districts following the complaints received against them by the opposition parties. For instance, Tirupati Collector met the local MLA and TTD chairman Bhumana Karunakar Reddy soon after assuming charge in February this year. This raised a controversy.

The EC had also received complaints from TDP, Jana Sena and BJP regarding poor police arrangements for the Chilakaluripeta NDA public meeting, which was attended by the Prime Minister recently. They alleged that the police had violated the protocol and no security was provided. Following this Palnadu SP is also said to have been transferred.

In a latest incident, TDP leaders have found a huge dump of YSRCP campaign material at a godown in Renigunta. They alleged that the district election officer had not reacted properly though they took the issue to his notice.

Nellore SP was allegedly moving closer with the ruling party leaders. While he was in Anantapur, cases were filed on activists of one party while both the parties were involved in the clashes.