Election Commission pulls up Niti over gram sabhas

New Delhi: The Election Commission pulled up NITI Aayog on Friday for holding special gram sabhas in the five poll-bound states without seeking its permission, and said that “such events can only be organised after the elections are over”. Besides, the Commission also ordered the transfer of 13 district magistrates and nine SSPs, including those of Lucknow and Amethi, in Uttar Pradesh.

In a letter to the Niti Aayog vice-chairman, the Commission said that while it was organising special gram sabhas across the country on January 26 to “outline priorities of citizens”, including in poll-bound Goa, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Punjab, it has not endorsed a copy to it as mandated under the model code of conduct. “Your office should have taken prior approval of the Commission from model code angle before before addressing a letter to district officers who are also district election officers,” the Commission in its order said.

It made it clear that the programme cannot be held on Republic Day in these states and should only be organised once the elections are over. The issue was raised by Goa’s chief electoral officer of Goa.

Meanwhile, the Commission ordered the transfer of 13 district magistrates and 9 SSPs in UP. Those transferred include DMs of Lucknow and Amethi, and senior superintendents of police of Rae Bareli and Amethi.

In a letter to the Uttar Pradesh chief secretary, the Commission said the officials “shall immediately be transferred”. The district magistrates are also the district election officers during Assembly and Lok Sabha polls. The DMs of Aligarh, Etah, Bereilly, Amroha, Amethi, Shahjahanpur, Barabanki, Lucknow, Mahoba, Hamirpur, Fatehpur, Siddarthnagar and Basti have been ordered to be transferred. The SSPs of Barabanki, Moradabad, Rae Bareli, Rampur, Etah, Saharanpur, Hamirpur, Amethi and Azamgarh have been ordered to be transferred.