ECI transfers Maharashtra DGP Rashmi Shukla amid Congress' phone tapping allegations

PTC News Desk:  The Election Commission of India has ordered transfer of Maharashtra Director General of Police Rashmi Shukla with immediate effect. The decision comes after Congress accused DGP of phone tapping. ECI has further instructed the chief secretary to hand over all the responsibilities to the next next senior-most IPS officer in the cadre.

Additionally, the chief secretary has also been ordered to send a panel of three IPS officers for appointment of the new DGP of Maharashtra by November 5.

Maharashtra congress chief Nana Patole submitted a letter to ECI chief Rajiv Kumar on October 31, accusing Rashmi Shukla of phone tapping and urged him to remove her from her position. 

"She (Rashmi Shukla) has shown a clear bias against the Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), and NCP(SP), as evidenced by her previous record of illegal phone tapping of opposition leaders while serving as Commissioner of Police, Pune, and Commissioner of the State Intelligence Department (SID)," he said in the letter.

In his letter, Patole also mentioned that several incidents against opposition leaders in the state were also reported which clearly indicates DGP's partisan behaviour against opposition parties. 

"While the DGP of Jharkhand was removed immediately after the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) was enforced, DGP Maharashtra was exempted," Patole said.

Prior to the announcement of state assembly elections, Rajiv Kumar had warned the officials during review meetings to to be not only impartial and fair but also to ensure their conduct is perceived as non-partisan while performing their duties.