BJP protests transfer of IAS, IPS officials in Bihar

Patna: A BJP delegation on Wednesday met Bihar Chief Electoral Officer and lodged their protest against the large- scale transfer of IAS and IPS officers ahead of the state assembly polls and requested that those serving in a post for less than three years be allowed to stay.

The BJP delegation, led by its state unit president Mangal Pandey, in their memorandum to the CEO charged the JD(U) government with transferring 46 IAS and 44 IPS officials, most of them at the district level, "to vitiate the process of the coming assembly polls in Bihar".

The state government had removed district magistrates of 27 districts and police chiefs of 18 districts with the apparent intention to pressurise the new set of officials into toeing the lines of the ruling alliance in the assembly polls and work for its victory, Pandey alleged.

Pandey said the recent transfer of the IAS and IPS officials was a "blatant violation" of the poll panel's directive that only those officials who have completed three years at a particular district be transferred ahead of polls.

The Bihar BJP chief also told the CEO that some tainted officials, known for their promixity to the government and its ministers, have been deputed to some districts, and urged the CEO to rescind the transfers of such officials at once.

Keeping in view the fact that the latest transfer of the IAS and IPS officials by the state government was aimed at "vitiating the poll process with the benefits of the ruling alliance in mind", Pandey urged the CEO to stay transfer of those officials who have not completed their term of three years in a particular district and transfer those who have completed it.