The Delhi Police has transferred around 21 Station House Officers (SHOs), 17 Assistant Commissioners of Police (ACPs) and 11 Anti-Terrorism Officers (ATOs). The relocation of police officials came after directions from the Election Commission of India (ECI), which said that the step was necessary for conducting free and fair polls.
The Chief Electoral Officer had sent a directive on behalf of the ECI to the Delhi Police Commissioner, after which the Delhi Police reassigned the officers. The SHOs and ACPs were to be transferred if they had completed three years in the same district and if they had an ancestral house in the same district. Any SHO who has been in the same district for many years might know the local leaders well and this acquaintance may have a bearing on the polling process.
“We had received the letter from the ECI. We will abide by it. Necessary action has been taken,” said Deepak Mishra, Special Commissioner of Police (law and Order). In the letter, the Election Commission (EC) had also asked States not to post officers up to the Sub-Inspector level in their home constituencies. It has also sought names of those posted in various police stations in 2008 and 2009 Assembly and Parliamentary elections. There are 178 police stations in Delhi, including Metro, Railways, Crime Branch, Economic Offences Wing (EOW) and Special Cell. Of these, there are over 100 SHOs who have not been transferred outside their districts for several years.
“Any officer who is due to retire within the next six months will be exempted from the purview of the above directions of the EC,” an officer from the EC said. Delhi Chief Electoral Officer Vijay Dev told The Pioneer that that electoral office will provide training to 160 SHOs and 94 ACPs to conduct free and fair elections in the coming Assembly polls.