Mayawati slams EC for transferring top state official

Criticising the Election Commission (EC) for transferring a top state government official, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati today said that such action may lead to law and order problems in the state.

The EC yesterday had ordered transferring the state Principal Secretary (Home) Fateh Bahadur Singh, following complaints from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Mayawati expressed doubts about a free and fair polls in the state in the absence of Fateh Bahadur and feared that political leaders may now be attacked during campaigning.

Immediately after he was stripped of his responsibility as the principal secretary (home), Fateh Bahadur Singh was re-inducted into the state cabinet as the principal secretary to the chief minister.

Bahadur was accused by the BJP of being the principal mover of the idea that the National Security Act be slapped on Varun Gandhi for his alleged communal speeches at an election rally in the state. The Samajwadi Party (SP) had recently said it was Bahadur who had prompted the district magistrate of Mainpuri to lodge a complaint against SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav in the Election Commission.

When Mayawati took oath as the chief minister in 2007 for the third time, Fateh Bahadur’s name did not figure in the list of IAS officers who were chosen to run her office in the secretariat annexe.

This surprised many, especially those close to Mayawati. However, after just two months, Fateh Bahadur was made the principal secretary to the chief minister. Last year, Bahadur was appointed principal secretary (home) along with the charge of the department of appointments and personnel. The post of principal secretary (home) is ranked third in protocol and seniority terms after the cabinet secretary and the chief secretary.

He has been the target of opposition parties ever since the dates of Lok Sabha elections were announced and code of conduct implemented.