Election Commission names new home secretaries of 6 states

NEW DELHI: A day after it removed the home secretaries of six states and the police chief of West Bengal to “maintain a level-playing field in general elections”, the Election Commission named their replacements, including Sanjoy Mukherjee who was picked as the new DGP of West Bengal.
Mukherjee replaced Rajeev Kumar, who was shunted out by EC barely 48 hours after the general election was announced, for allegedly being closely identified with the ruling dispensation in West Bengal.The state government had on Monday named Vivek Sahay as the acting DGP, pending EC's decision on Kumar’s successor. Though Sahay also figured in the panel of officers sent by the West Bengal chief secretary to EC for DGP’s post, he was rejected as he will be superannuating mid-way through the polls in May. Sahay’s history of having been suspended by EC in 2021 after a serious security breach left chief minister Mamata injured, also weighed down his prospects.
The Commission on Monday also put its stamp of approval on new home secretaries of Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Bihar, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Choosing from the panel of senior IPS/IAS officers received from the respective state chief secretaries, EC named IPS officers Pratyaya Amrit of 1991 batch for Bihar; Deepak Kumar of 1990 batch for UP and A K Rakesh of 1989 batch for Gujarat; as well as IAS officers Vandana Dadel of 1996 batch for Jharkhand, Onkar Sharma of 1994 batch for Himachal Pradesh and Dilip Jawalkar of 2003 batch for Uttarakhand.
New appointees in the posts of secretary, general administration department (GAD), in Himachal Pradesh and Mizoram were also cleared by EC on Tuesday.
The panel of names for replacing the Brihanmumbai Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal as well as additional/deputy commissioners has been received and EC will take a decision on Wednesday. The commissioners of municipal corporations in Thane and Navi Mumbai are also being transferred, said sources.
The incumbent home secretaries and secretary, GAD across seven states were shunted out by EC on Monday as they were also holding dual charge as principal secretary or additional chief secretary in the respective chief minister’s office and were thus perceived to be under control of the chief minister.