Chief Secretary and DGP will have to send compliance report immediately
Senior police officers and district election officers who have completed three years of tenure at a station during the last four years will be posted outside the district
Punjab Newsline, Chandigarh, March 6-
Haryana Chief Electoral Officer Anurag Agarwal said that all department heads should comply with the directives issued by the Election Commission of India regarding the Lok Sabha 2024 general elections.
Directions have been issued that all high posts police officers who have completed a three-year term in a parliamentary constituency or district Police officers holding high posts and District Election Officers who have completed their one-year tenure during the last four years should be transferred out of the district. This compliance should be ensured by all department heads. Immediate submission of the compliance report to the Chief Secretary and Director-General of Police is necessary.
Agarwal was holding a review meeting of the department officers here today on the directions issued by the Election Commission of India regarding election arrangements.
He said that it has come to the Election Commission of India's notice that state governments are transferring officers to nearby districts within the same parliamentary constituency during the elections. Therefore, the commission has made a significant amendment to its current transfer policy.
He said that now all District Election Officers, Sub District Election Officers, District Returning Officers, Assistant Returning Officers, Additional Director General Range, IG, DIG, Senior Superintendents of Police, Superintendents of Police, Additional Superintendents of Police, Deputy Superintendents of Police, Circle Officers (or equivalent police officers) will be transferred if they have completed a 3-year term in the same parliamentary constituency or district during the last four years.
Additionally, it will be ensured that district returning officers and assistant returning officers are not posted in the Parliamentary Constituency which is comprised of their Home Districts. According to the directives issued by the commission, all states, except for the five parliamentary constituencies, will ensure that officers transferred out of the district are not posted in the same parliamentary constituency.
The CEO this rule applies retrospectively to transfers and postings that have already been implemented in accordance with the Commission's previous directions.
He said that as per the ECI policy, all officers who were either posted in their home district or have completed three years at a place have been directed to be transferred. This includes officers who are in any way connected to the election work either directly or in a supervisory capacity.
Agarwal said that the ECI has a zero-tolerance policy against any attempt to disrupt the elections. He clarified that in the recently held assembly elections in five states, the Commission had ordered the transfer of various officers, even senior-level police officers in the state.