Gujarat Elections 2022: Poll officer sacked from duty for publicity stunt on Instagram

New Delhi, Nov 18: The Election Commission on Friday relieved an Uttar Pradesh IAS officer from election duty for indulging in a "publicity stunt" by posting pictures of his assignment on Instagram.

"The 2011 batch officer used social media platform Instagram for sharing his posting as a general observer and used his official position as a "publicity stunt"," the EC said in a strongly worded letter.

The poll panel also shared with the CEO pictures uploaded by the officer on the social media platform.

The poll body took "a very serious view" of the matter and relieved the officer immediately of his duties as a general observer.

The officer has also been debarred from any election-related duty till further orders. The officer was also directed to leave the constituency of which he was given the responsibility immediately and report to his nodal officer in the parent cadre.

All government facilities provided to him to facilitate the discharge of his observer duties be withdrawn, the EC letter said.

Krishan Bajpai has been given additional charge of the assembly seats Singh was handling.

Abhishek Singh was appointed as General Observer for 2 constituencies in Ahmedabad including, Bapunagar and Asarwa.