Weeks ahead of voting for the 2024 Assembly elections in Maharashtra, the Election Commission has ordered the transfer of DGP Rashmi Shukla, acting on complaints from the Congress and other political parties, sources said.

The chief secretary has been ordered to hand over the charge to the next senior IPS officer in the cadre, ANI said, citing sources.

They further added that the Chief Secretary has been asked to send a team of three IPS officers by 1 pm on Tuesday, November 5 to appointment of DGP Maharashtra.

During the review meetings and announcing the Assembly elections in the state, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar “cautioned the officials not only to be impartial and fair but also to be perceived to be non-partisan in their conduct while discharging their duties”. sources said.

In view of complaints by INC and other parties, the Election Commission of India orders the transfer of Maharashtra DGP Rashmi Shukla with immediate effect, with instructions to the Chief Secretary to hand over the charge to the next senior IPS officer in the cadre. The boss… pic.twitter.com/DqocropZo0

— ANI (@ANI) November 4, 2024

The opposition, including the Congress, had earlier alleged that Shukla was biased towards the ruling Mahayuti alliance, arguing that fair elections would not be possible if she continued in the top post.

Earlier, Rajya Sabha MP and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said there were “serious” allegations against the senior IPS officer. He said that in 2019, when their government was to be formed, the senior official was “working directly for the Bharatiya Janata Party”.

He also alleged that she was tapping the phones of opposition leaders and giving information to “Devendra Fadnavis about what we were going to do”.

“Can we expect her to conduct fair elections? I said that he should not be given the reins of the election, and then the Electoral Commission said that they have no right (to the transfer). How can this happen? At the same time, the DGP of Jharkhand was changed,” NDTV quoted Raut as saying.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole also wrote a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner demanding Shukla’s removal from office, accusing her of showing “clear bias” against opposition parties.

“She has shown a clear bias against the Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) as evidenced by her record of illegal wiretapping of opposition leaders while she was Commissioner of Police, Pune and State Commissioner. Intelligence Department (SID),” his letter read.

288 seat Maharashtra Assembly poll is scheduled to take place in a single phase on November 20, followed by counting of votes on November 23.