ECI orders SIT probe

New Delhi : The Election Commission of India on Thursday expressed its displeasure over the manner in which Chief Secretary Jawahar Reddy and DGP Harish Kumar Gupta had handled the post-poll violence in Andhra Pradesh and initiated some very strong measures.

Not satisfied with the explanation given by the CS and DGP, the ECI constituted a SIT to probe the reasons for the violence and asked it to submit the report within 48 hours. It also issued orders transferring the District Collector of Palnadu and ordered departmental inquiry against him.

Similarly, it transferred the Tirupati SP and suspended SPs of Palnadu and Anantapur and 12 other police officials. The EC ordered departmental inquiry against all these officials. Further, it has decided to keep the Central forces in the state till the counting of votes was over.

Interestingly, while the DGP has returned to Vijayawada after giving his explanation to the ECI, the Chief Secretary is still staying back in Delhi. This has given rise to speculations that the ECI may take action against him as well in a day or two. The possibility of replacing him is not ruled out. The present CS will be retiring in July.

Such serious action against officials was not taken in any other state by the EC during the ongoing elections. It may be recalled that the ECI had summoned the Chief Secretary and the DGP to Delhi and asked them to explain why the administration had failed to contain violence in the state. These two officials gave a power point presentation to the ECI and said that they had advance information of the likely trouble spots.

The EC questioned them if that was the case then what were the preventive measures taken by them. “Who has failed, you or we,” EC members are said to have shot back. The ECI also mentioned about the reports given by the two observers who said that there has been breakdown of law and order in the state.