Maharashtra, Haryana, Arunachal Pradesh go to polls on Tuesday.
More than two dozen babus from Gujarat are busy with elections duties across three states — Maharashtra, Haryana, and Arunachal Pradesh that are going to polls on October 13. Of these as many as 16 IAS officials are deployed in Maharashtra, while three are posted in Haryana and two in Arunachal Pradesh. Most of those on poll duty are junior ranking officials, including district officials. There are some officials of other central services as well belonging to Gujarat.
The single-phased elections will be held for a total 438 state Assembly seats — 288 in Maharashtra, 90 in Haryana, and 60 in Arunachal Pradesh. The polling will take place on October 13 and the counting will be held on October 22.
Those posted in Maharashtra are thankful as Election Commission has been gracious enough by not sending them to the north-eastern state. These officials, of course, have low chances of feeling lonely as chief minister Narendra Modi is also busy handling the election campaign of BJP there.
The officials on duty, however, sounded unhappy. “This is the third time in this year alone that I am handling responsibility of an observer, instead of working in my department,” one of the officials said.
Some of the officials also expressed displeasure over what they are calling ‘patrician attitude’ of state government. “More often than not, the officials belonging to state civil services and promoted to IAS are sent away on duty repeatedly. While ECI’s decision to pick up the same officers reflects well in integrity of the official, the state government is selective in choosing the name. The regular recruit IAS officers are usually spared from the duty,” the official claimed.
Those on duty in Maharashtra include GR Chaudhary, JD Bhad, Rohit Kumar Pathak, Amrutlal Shankarlal Patel, Amrendra Kumar Rakesh, PD Vaghela, Harshkumar Netraprakash Chhibber, RR Chauhan, PB Patani, Dilipkumar Jamnadas Dharaiya, Purushottam Nathabhai Patel, RS Patel, Sonal Mishra, DG Jhalawadia, MA Narmawala and PP Harshe. AN Khatri, GM Damor, and KH Kanojia are posted in Haryana while S Murali Krishna and Anuradha Mall are in Arunachal Pradesh.
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