Tamil Nadu: Election officials working in their own districts transferred

Tamil Nadu: The Election Commission has requested four states, including Tamil Nadu, and the Union Territory of Puducherry, to transfer officials directly involved in conducting elections if they are working in their own districts.

In this regard, the Election Commission has sent a letter to the Chief Secretaries of Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala, Assam, and Puducherry, where assembly elections are scheduled to be held soon, stating:

Officers directly involved in conducting elections in the state or union territory where elections are to be held should not be posted in their own districts. If these officials have been working in the same location for a long time, they should not remain there and should be transferred.

There is no need to transfer government doctors, engineers, teachers, or principals of educational institutions who are not involved in election work.

During elections, a large number of government employees are engaged in various election duties. As such, the Election Commission does not want to disrupt the government machinery by making large-scale job changes.

Therefore, this transfer does not apply to those appointed as departmental officers or zonal magistrates on election duty, including officers posted at the state headquarters of the concerned department.

Furthermore, it has been stated that officers who have previously faced disciplinary action based on Election Commission recommendations should not be assigned election duty.

It is worth noting that it is routine practice for the Election Commission to issue instructions regarding the transfer of officers during Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.