Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2024: EC orders transfer of DGP in relief to complaining MVA members

Mumbai: Amid mounting pressure and criticism, the Election Commission of India on Monday ordered the removal of Rashmi Shukla as Director General of Police of Maharashtra - who has been accused of phone-tapping and misuse of office by the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi.

The EC asked Chief Secretary Sujata Saunik to hand over Shukla's charge to the next senior-most IPS officer with immediate effect and send a panel of three names by Tuesday for selection of the next state police chief.

The MVA comprising Congress, Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) and Uddhav Thackeray-headed Shiv Sena (UBT) has welcomed the decision of the EC, however, felt that it has come late despite repeatedly communicating with the poll body.

Shukla is an officer of the 1988-batch of the IPS.

In normal course, the temporary charge will go to 1989-batch IPS officer Vivek Phansalkar, who is now the Mumbai Police Commissioner and the second senior-most officer, who is due for retirement in April 2025.

The other senior officers include National Investigation Agency (NIA) chief Sadanand Date, a 1990-batch officer who retires in December 2026. He is followed by his batchmate Bipin Kumar

Singh, who retires in October next year, and Sanjay Kumar Verma, who retires in April 2028.

Shukla was on central deputation and came to Maharashtra in January 2024 after serving as Director General of Sashastra Seema Bal and Additional Director General of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).

Before being posted on a central deputation, Shukla had held several key posts in Maharashtra, including serving as the Commissioner of State Intelligence Department and then as Pune Police chief when Devendra Fadnavis was the Chief Minister and headed the Home ministry.

Shukla is due to retire on June 30, 2024 but she got the stipulated two-year term as DGP.

The Congress has written to ECI seeking her removal.

In the letter to ECI, state Congress President Nana Patole, a former Speaker, pointed out that Congress had written letters to the ECI on 24 September 2024 and 4 October 2024 on this issue. Besides, it has also reiterated this request during a briefing on September 27, 2024, in Mumbai.

“The removal of the DGP of Jharkhand was implemented immediately after the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) came into effect, whereas DGP Maharashtra was exempted. Over the past 20 days, incidents of political violence against opposition parties in the state have escalated significantly, with the law-and-order situation deteriorating,” Patole pointed out.

According to him, she has demonstrated a clear bias against the Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), and NCP(SP), as evidenced by her prior record of illegal phone tapping of opposition leaders while serving as Commissioner of Police in Pune and Commissioner of the State Intelligence Department (SID).

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut had claimed that the phones of opposition leaders were being tapped.

Assembly Elections 2024 | The Maharashtra Assembly polls will take place against the backdrop of a fractured political landscape in the western state where the Shiv Sena and NCP will be going up against the Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar factions, even as the BJP and Congress try to make their mark. Meanwhile, in Jharkhand, the JMM faces a new challenge after Hemant Soren's recent arrest and Champai, a longstanding party member, joining the BJP. The Haryana election resulted in a shock loss for Congress, which was looking to galvanize on the Lok Sabha poll performance, while J&K also saw the grand old party eventually stepping away from the cabinet, with Omar Abdullah's JKNC forming government. It remains to be seen if the upcoming polls help BJP cement its position further or provide a fillip to I.N.D.I.A. Check live updates and track the latest coverage, live news, in-depth opinions, and analyses only on Deccan Herald.

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