Sai Kumar to be Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary
Following the Election Commission’s directions on Wednesday, Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary (CS) N. Muruganandam was transferred out, and his colleague M. Sai Kumar was named his successor.
Mr. Sai Kumar assumed office at the Secretariat in Chennai on Wednesday evening.
On the Commission’s directions, senior IPS officer Sandeep Mittal was posted as the Director-General of Police (DGP), Armed Police, and Director (in-charge), Vigilance and Anti-Corruption.
A few hours after the EC’s direction, DMK president and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin objected to transferring Mr. Muruganandam as the Chief Secretary and said the Commission was “only short of campaigning for the BJP on the field”. The Chief Minister termed the transfer as “arbitrary” and a “political act.”
Taking to social media, Mr. Stalin said it was a “matter of shame” that the EC, which was to remain independent and conduct fair elections, was implementing the “commands” of the BJP-led Union government. The scope provided by the Constitution to the Commission was not to discharge functions favoring the BJP, he said.
Pointing out that the CS and the DGP in election-bound Assam have not been transferred as yet, and those in Bihar were not transferred when the State went for the polls, Mr. Stalin said the Commission had transferred these authorities in Tamil Nadu “only at the behest of the BJP.”
Stating that it would not be appropriate for the EC to “join hands with the BJP and the AIADMK” in Tamil Nadu and allow irregularities in the conduct of elections, Mr. Stalin said polling personnel would be here today but may go tomorrow. It would be a grave danger for the country, and for the conduct of elections, if the Commission, provided for by the architects of our Constitution, acted in a partisan manner, he said.
Criticizing the Prime Minister and the BJP government led by him for enacting a law providing the government with powers to appoint the Chief Election Commissioner, contrary to the Supreme Court judgment, Mr. Stalin said the transfer of the CS and the DGP in Tamil Nadu and other non-BJP ruled States only reflected that neither the Prime Minister nor the BJP government led by him realised the sanctity of the EC.