The Election Commission of India (EC), in a letter to Jammu & Kashmir, Haryana, Maharashtra and Jharkhand electoral officers said “polls to the legislative assembly of UT of J&K are due in the near future” and asked them to transfer officers by August 20 in case they are directly connected with elections and posted in their own district
In the letter to the Chief Secretaries and Chief Electoral Officers, the poll body said officers directly connected with conduct of elections in a state/UT should not be posted in places where they have served for a considerably long period.
The poll body has directed that no officer connected directly with elections will be allowed to continue in the present district or revenue district of posting if they are posted in their home district or if they completed three years in that district during the last four years.
In addition, the poll body also said any official who will complete three years in the state/UT in the coming month should be transferred.
For Jammu and Kashmir, the cut-off time for three years is on or before September 30; for Haryana it is October 31; November 30 is for Maharashtra; and December 31 for Jharkhand.
The terms of existing state legislative assemblies of Haryana, Jharkhand and Maharashtra are ending on November 3, January 5 and November 26, respectively, and elections are due in the year 2024.
“Further, the election to Legislative Assembly of UT of Jammu and Kashmir is also due in near future,” the letter said.
The letter also said that “if any small state/UT with a few districts face any difficulty in compliance of the above instruction, then it may refer the specific case with reasons to the Commission through CEO for exemption and the Commission would issue directions, if considered necessary”.
The EC has directed that these instructions will cover not only officers appointed for specific election duties or officers appointed as nodal officers of any specific election works but also district officers or any other officer of equal rank directly deployed for election works.
“These instructions shall also cover the divisional commissioners, municipal commissioners, and the other officers deputed in municipal corporations and development authorities,” it said.
The letter also made it clear that these instructions are applicable to the police department officers who are responsible for security arrangement or deployment of police forces in the district at election time.
“The police officials who are posted in functional departments like computerisation, special branch, training, etc. are not covered under these instructions,” it added.
The order for transfer and posting is also applicable for the officers of the prohibition and excise department of the state of the rank of Sub-lnspector and above.
“The Commission has further directed that transfer/posting of all officers covered under the above instructions shall be done and compliance reports by Chief Secretary and DGP with details of action obtained from the concerned departments/offices of state government shall be furnished to the Commission by August 20,” the ECI added.
It is important to note that the Supreme Court has set September 30, 2024, as the deadline for the EC to complete the election process in J&K.
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