Election Commission transfers UP DGP, home secretary

The Election Commission on Saturday night transferred Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police Brij Lal and Principal Secretary (Home) Kunwar Fateh Bahadur after major opposition parties accused the two officials of working as "agents" of the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party.

BSP slammed the EC's decision, claiming the removal of Lal and Bahadur would "shatter the sense of security among Dalits and the downtrodden that they would be able to exercise their franchise in a free and fair manner in the coming assembly elections".

"Principal Secretary (Home) Kunwar Fateh Bahadur and DGP Brij Lal have been transferred from their respective posts," official sources said.

Accusing the officials of working as the agents of the ruling BSP, almost all the major opposition parties, including the Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party and Samajwadi Party, urged the Commission to transfer the two officials.

Welcoming the decision, the opposition parties said it was necessary for free and fair conduct of elections.

"The party had already demanded thatthe EC to transfer officials working as the agents of ruling BSP and it welcomes the order," BJP spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak said.

Congress spokesman Akhilesh Kumar Singh demanded disciplinary action against the officials, charging them with working as BSP workers.

"Merely removing them will not suffice. Disciplinary action should also be taken against them. Besides, there are a number of other officers working as BSP agents and they should also be removed," he said.

"The casteist and imperialist governments had not given the officials of these sections important positions but ever since Mayawati came to power, she has given them important postings, which has led to a sense of security among these sections," said BSP general secretary Satish Chandra Misra.

"The order to transfer these officials would shatter this sense of security among them," he said.

The BSP leader claimed that despite the posting of officials belonging to any section at these places, Dalits would vote in favour of Mayawati in the coming elections as they had done in 2007, "giving a befitting reply to imperialist forces when the Samajwadi Party was in power".