The Election Commission on Monday ordered the immediate transfer of Maharashtra Director General of Police Rashmi Shukla days ahead of Assembly elections in the state, The Indian Express reported.
The development came amid allegations from the Congress that Shukla was biased against the Opposition Vikas Aghadi. The Opposition coalition comprises the Uddhav Thackeray-led faction of the Shiv Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party group led by Sharad Pawar and the Congress.
On October 31, Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole wrote a letter to Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, accusing the state police chief of having a “clear bias” against the Opposition, The Hindu reported.
He alleged that the phones of Opposition leaders were tapped when Shukla was the Pune police commissioner and the commissioner of the state intelligence department.
In February 2022, when the Maha Vikas Aghadi was in power, the state government had filed cases against Shukla for allegedly tapping the phones of Patole and Uddhav Sena MP Sanjay Raut.
However, the Bombay High Court set aside the cases in 2023 on a petition filed by Shukla.
On Monday, the Election Commission issued the transfer order and directed the state chief secretary to hand over Shukla’s responsibilities to the next senior-most Indian Police Service officer in the cadre, ANI reported, quoting unidentified officials.
Mumbai Police Commissioner Vivek Phansalkar was given additional charge as the state director general of police.
The Maharashtra Assembly elections will take place in a single phase on November 20. The results will be announced on November 23.
