Former Chief Secretary of Delhi Vijay Dev’s appointment as Delhi State Election Commissioner smacks of a BJP design. Through the appointment, the party seems to have an agenda to manage things according to its own convenience at a time when the Municipal Corporation of Delhi elections are due.
The elections have been postponed to next year on the pretext of unifying the three MCDs (North, East and South MCDs) in the National Capital. If the MCD elections had not been deferred by the Lieutenant Governor, they would have been held by this month.
The reason cited for the postponement of the elections was paucity of funds to run the three civic bodies. A Bill was passed in Parliament to merge all the three MCDs into one to cover the financial crunch. It will take a year to complete the entire process to merge them, sources said.
Meanwhile, Lieutenant Governor, Anil Baijal administered the oath of office to Dave IAS (retired) at Raj Bhawan today. He had recently taken VRS from the post of Chief Secretary, Government of Delhi.
A statement from the LG office said Dev would hold the office for a term of six years from the date he assumed charge or till he attains the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier.
Dev’s appointment comes in the wake of the retirement of S K Srivastava from the post of the State Election Commissioner on Wednesday.
Srivastava recently came into the limelight when he postponed the announcement of poll dates for the three municipal corporations during a press conference in March.
Reacting to the development, Delhi Congress Committee’s Chief of Communication Department, Anil Bhardwaj said the Union government is in the habit of appointing officers in key positions in its own favour. Appointment of Vijay Dev as new State Election Commissioner is a reflection on the fact that the BJP doesn’t want to leave any chances while preparing for the ensuing civic body election.