Taking forward its commitment for a level playing field in the ongoing Lok Sabha election, the Election Commission of India on Thursday issued transfer orders for non-cadre officers who were posted at leadership positions as District Magistrate (DM) and Superintendent of Police (SP) in four states — Gujarat, Punjab, Odisha and West Bengal.

The post of DM and SP in the district are encadred for officers from Indian Administrative and Indian Police Service respectively.

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The decision was taken after the Commission convened a meeting chaired by Chief ELection Commissioner Rajiv Kumar along with Election Commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu.

The Commission directed transfer of the SPs of Chhota Udaipur and Ahmedabad Rural districts in Gujarat; SSPs of Pathankot, Fazilka, Jalandhar Rural and Malerkotla districts in Punjab, DM of Dhenkanal and SPs of Deogarh and Cuttack Rural districts in Odisha; DMs of Purba Medinipur, Jhargram, Purba Bardhaman and Birbhum districts in West Bengal.

Additionally, the Commission also directed for transfer of SSP Bathinda in Punjab and SP Sonitpur in Assam in view of their kinship or familial association with the elected political representatives. The officials in these two districts have been transferred as pre-emptive measures to dispel any apprehensions of administration being biased or perceived to be compromised.

Under the directive, all respective state governments have been instructed to promptly transfer non-encadred officers from their current roles as DM and SP/SSP, with immediate effect, and submit a compliance report to the Commission, the ECI release said.

In a separate direction to the Electronics and IT Ministry, the Commission said it has received complaints from various quarters that messages regarding ‘Viksit Bharat’ were still being delivered on citizens’ phones. It asked the ministry to ensure that no delivery of WhatsApp messages takes place during the Model Code of Conduct period.

”Since the MCC is now in force, you are hereby directed to ensure forthwith that no further delivery of ‘WhatsApp messages’ take place during MCC period. A compliance report in this regard may be sent immediately,” it said.