Taking serious note of cases wherein officers were being transferred/posted in the adjacent districts within the same Parliamentary Constituency by state governments, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has directed States/UTs to implement transfer policy in both letter and spirit.
Strengthening its existing transfer policy to ensure that officials were not able to disturb the level playing field in the elections, the ECI has asked the state governments to ensure that officers who were transferred out of the district after completing three years were not posted in another district within the same parliamentary constituency. Plugging the loopholes in the existing instructions, the ECI has stated that, except for States/UTs that comprise up to two parliamentary constituencies, all States shall ensure that officers who were transferred out of the district were not posted within the same Parliamentary Constituency.
ECI reiterated that the transfer policy of the commission must be adhered to in both letter and spirit and not just being camouflaged to show compliance. “This rule applies retrospectively to transfers and postings that have already been implemented in accordance with the Commission’s prior instructions,” ECI said. As per commission’s policy, all the officers who were either posted in their home district or have completed three years at a place have been directed to be transferred. This includes officers who are in any way connected to the election work either directly or in supervisory capacity.
ECI said there has been a zero-tolerance policy of the commission against disturbing the level playing field in the elections.
It may be recalled that in the recently held five state assembly elections, the Commission ordered transfer of various officials, even senior level police officials in the state(s).