UP prepares new panel after EC removes top brass; DGP resigns

Lucknow, Mar 14 (UNI) Uttar Pradesh government is working on a new panel of top police officials and bureaucrats after the Election Commission this evening ordered the removal of top brass, including DGP Bua Singh and Principal Secretary (Home) Satish Kumar Agarwal.

Outgoing DGP Bua Singh announced voluntary retirement, claming his integrity was in question after the EC order.

The new list of officials is to reach EC by tomorrow morning as desired by the body.

Earlier, the EC had ordered the removal of eight officials, including DGP, Principal Secretary (Home), Additional DGP (law and order) A C Sharma, IG (Kanpur zone) Rizwan Ahmed, Divisional Commissioner (Meerut) Devdutt, DM Saharanpur Anil Kumar, DM Etah Ram Kumar and SSP Meerut Navneet Sikera.

Meanwhile, four postings have already been made after the due consent of EC.

Mr V K Maurya is the new DIG (Meerut range), replacing Shailendra Pratap Singh. Special Secretary (Home) Kamal Saxena will be the new DIG (Agra range), replacing Akhilesh Mehrotra.

Mr Ajay Mohan Sharma has been made SP (city) Ghaziabad, while Mr Virendra Bahadur Singh has been made Additional SP (Lakhimpur Kheri), replacing Mr Bharat Singh Yadav.

State Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Anuj Kumar Bishnoi said here the EC has directed Chief Secretary Navin Chandra Bajpai to send a panel of three officials each to replace those removed.

EC has also directed the state government not to post the removed officials in the particular districts, where they were posted nor engage them in any poll-related work.

Sources said if the UP government follows Supreme Court order on seniority, then former DGP V K B Nair and Yashpal Singh, besides G L Sharma and Ghungesh may find their names in the panel for the new DGP.

While Mr V K B Nair (1971 batch IPS) is DG, Home Guards, Mr Yashpal Singh (1972 batch IPS) is chairman Police Awas Nigam. Mr G L Sharma (1972 batch IPS) is DG Vigilance Organisation and Mr Ghungesh is 1972 batch IPS.

Mr Yashpal Singh's wife Geeta Singh is an MLA of the ruling Samajwadi Party and is likely to contest the assembly poll once again, therefore, his name is virtually ruled out as a DGP probable.

At a high-level meeting held in New Delhi, the EC decided the state machinery needed a reshuffle to ensure the poll is held in a free and fair manner.

The UP assembly election will be conducted in seven phases between April 7 and May 8. As many as 62 constituencies will go to polls in the first phase.

The polls will witness a four-cornered contest with the incumbent Samajwadi Party making a concerted effort to retain power and the Mayawati-led Bahujan Ssamajwadi Party trying to emerge as the single largest party.

BJP and the Congress will be the two other main contenders in the race.

UNI