MP: Bhind collector shunted out after Cong complains to EC

The collector of Bhind district in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh has been transferred after the opposition Congress submitted a complaint against him to the state authorities as well as the Election Commission (EC).

The state government on Sunday evening issued the transfer order of collector Ashish Kumar, replacing him with Dhanraj S Raju, a senior official said today.

Kumar has been appointed as a deputy secretary in the state secretariat, he said.

The order was issued after the EC's approval, he added.

"We had met the Chief Election Commissioner, state's Chief Electoral Officer and the Chief Secretary and complained against the collector and demanded his removal," said Govind Singh, Congress MLA from Lahar in the district.

The complaint was regarding allocation of mines, illegal sand excavation and transport from the district and the preparation of voter lists, he said.

The Congress had alleged that some voters whose names were added to voter lists in Bhind were residents of Uttar Pradesh.

Madhya Pradesh would be going to the polls next month.

Earlier, before Ater by-election in the district in April 2017, then collector Ilayaraja T had been transferred following a controversy surrounding a Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) unit.