Guwahati, March 16 The Election Commission on Monday transferred senior superintendents of police (SSPs) of five districts in Assam, a day after announcing the schedule for the assembly elections.
The SSPs of Majuli, South Salmara, Sadiya, Chirang, and Dhemaji districts have been transferred with immediate effect, according to an official notification.
SSP Haren Tokbi of Majuli was replaced by Somalin Shubhdarshini, while R Sheetal Kumar replaced Mrinal Kumar Deka of South Salmara.
SSP Jagadish Das of Sadiya was replaced by Anchal Chauhan, Dhruba Bora of Chirang by Sudhakar Singh, and Swapnaneel Deka of Dhemaji by Mohan Lal Meena.
ECI Secretary Rajiv Ranjan, in a letter to Assam Chief Secretary Ravi Kota, said that the decision has been taken after the Commission has reviewed the preparedness for the assembly elections.
The Commission's directives must be implemented immediately, and a compliance report regarding the officers taking up their new posts must be sent by 11 am on Tuesday.
Furthermore, the officers who have been transferred should not be posted in any election-related positions until the elections are over, the letter stated.
All five SSPs transferred were from the Assam Police Service (APS) and have been replaced by officers from the Indian Police Service (IPS).
Shubhdarshini is an IPS officer of the 1991 batch, while Kumar and Chauhan belong to the 2020 batch.
Singh is an officer of the 2013 batch, and Meena of 2016.
In a separate press release issued by the ECI, it was stated that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, in his press conference on Sunday, had assured that elections in all states, including Assam, would be peaceful. In pursuance of this objective, ECI has posted/transferred senior police officers in Assam.
In another letter to the chief secretary, the Commission asked him to provide the names of all IAS officers from the 2010 to 2021 batches for consideration for deployment as District Election Officers (DEO) by Monday.
Elections to 126 assembly constituencies in the state are scheduled to be held on April 9.
