Ahead of the Jharkhand polls, the Election Commission on Saturday directed the state government to remove Acting Director General of Police (DGP) Anurag Gupta from his post with immediate effect due to a "history" of complaints against him in previous elections, sources said.  The Jharkhand Assembly elections will be held in two phases - November 13 and 20.

The decision to remove Gupta was based on a history of complaints and action taken by the Commission against him during previous elections, the sources said.  As an interim, the charge of the DGP will now be handed over to the senior most DGP-level officer in the cadre, they said.

The state government has also been asked to submit a panel of names of senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officers by October 21 morning to enable the EC to pick an officer to be named the next DGP.  The state government has to submit a compliance report of these directions by Saturday evening.

During the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Gupta was relieved of his duties as ADG (Special Branch), Jharkhand, following allegations of biased conduct made by the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM). He was reassigned to the resident commissioner's office in Delhi and barred from returning to Jharkhand until the election process was completed, the sources recalled.

During the Rajya Sabha elections from Jharkhand in 2016, Gupta, then an additional DGP, faced serious charges of misuse of authority.

 The Commission had formed an inquiry committee following which a charge sheet was issued to him for departmental enquiry.