Election Commission transfers 23 officers in UP

The Election Commission (EC) on Friday transferred 13 District Magistrates and nine Superintendent of Police (SP) and Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) -rank officers in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh.

The transferred District Magistrates include Lucknow's Satender Singh who was replaced by Gauri Shankar Priyadarshi.

Other transferred District Magistrates were attached to Uttar Pradesh's Aligarh, Etah, Bareilly, Amroha, Amethi, Shahjehanpur, Barabanki, Mahoba, Hamirpur, Fatehpur, Siddharthnagar and Basti districts.

The SP and SSP -rank officers transferred were posted in Barabanki, Moradabad, Rae Bareilly, Rampur, Etah, Saharanpur, Hamirpur, Amethi and Azamgarh districts of the state where the 17th legislative assembly elections will be held from February 11 to March 8 in seven phases.

An Election Commission official said it a standard procedure by the poll panel in order to ensure fair and free polls in any state.

Last year in September, the Election Commission directed the governments of poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur, to transfer all officers who have completed three years in a district as part of its efforts ensuring taint-free elections.

"No officer connected with elections, directly or indirectly, should be allowed to continue in the present district of posting if she or he is posted in home district or home district of spouse and has completed three years in that district during the last four years," read the order by the poll panel.

--IANS

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