NEW DELHI: With the assembly elections in Haryana, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and the UT of Jammu & Kashmir due before the end of this year, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has written to the chief secretaries and the chief electoral officers directing them to transfer officials serving in their native districts or those who have been in a particular district for over three years, as polls are imminent.In the letter, a copy of which is with this newspaper, the ECI indicated that elections for the J&K assembly will be held separately and it is most likely that they might not be clubbed with the polls in Haryana, Jharkhand and Maharashtra.The Commission in the order letter said, any official who has “completed three years in a particular district during last four years or would be completing 3 years on or before September 30, 2024 for the UT of J&K, October 31, 2024 for Haryana, November 30, 2024 for Maharashtra and December 31, 2024 for Jharkhand” should be transferred.It also said that the existing legislative assemblies of Haryana, Jharkhand and Maharashtra will expire on November 3, 2024, January 5, 2025, and November 26, 2024, respectively with elections due in the year 2024. “Further, the elections to the legislative assembly of the UT of J&K is also due in the near future,” it added. The Commission further directed the transfers and postings of all officers falling under these guidelines to be executed promptly and compliance reports, detailing actions taken, to be submitted by the Chief Secretary and the Director General of Police (DGP) to the Commission by August 20, 2024.The elections for the UT of J&K assembly have become imminent, particularly after the Supreme Court’s directive on December 11, 2023, in which the ECI was directed to hold the polls by September 30, 2024.The UT of J&K has been under central rule since June 19, 2018, following the BJP withdrawing its support from the Mehbooba Mufti-led Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government, citing a “deteriorating” law and order situation in the region.Meanwhile, in August 2019 the Centre scrapped special status to J&K under Article 370 of the Constitution and reorganised the erstwhile state into two Union Territories – Jammu & Kashmir (with assembly) and Ladakh.
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