Electing to transfer

With most ministers in the United Progressive Alliance busy with general elections and the ruling alliance's defeat considered near-certain, important government decisions may be stuck on the altar of the Election Commission (EC), but secretaries in some ministries did manage to achieve some transfers of bureaucrats under them. In the last few weeks, officials at the level of joint secretary and directors have been transferred because the secretaries did not want them. The reasons could range from the officer's reputation for corruption or even speaking to the media. There are no EC strictures involved here; the secretaries simply call the Cabinet Secretary directly in the case of Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers or the cadre-controlling authority concerned for the non-IAS ones.