Gujarat: EC appoints new Gandhinagar collector

After appointing a new police chief in the poll-bound Gujarat, the Election Commission on Thursday posted senior IAS officer Mamta Verma as the new collector of Gandhinagar.

Verma replaces Sonal Mishra who along with seven senior civil and police officers, said to be close to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, were shifted by the poll panel on Monday.

While ordering the transfers, the EC had directed that none of the eight officials would be posted to any election-related post or work.

In a strong action, the EC had ordered transfer of state Police Chief P C Pande and appointed K R Kaushik in his place on Thursday.

Pande was Ahmedabad police commissioner during the 2002 post-Godhra riots in the state and had come under a cloud over the communal violence.

The 1970-batch IPS officer was shifted out of the state some months later on deputation to the Centre where he served with the CBI.

However, Modi brought him back two years ago as the DGP.

As part of efforts to ensure free and fair polls in the state, the EC had sent two teams to the state to oversee the poll readiness and gear up the election machinery.

The full commission headed by Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswamy also visited the state prior to announcing the poll schedule.

The two-phase polling in the state will take place on December 11 and 16, and counting on December 23.