1 week Ago
Jharkhand Assembly Polls: Days ahead of the Jharkhand Assembly election, the Election Commission directed the state government to remove Acting Director General of Police (DGP) Anurag Gupta from his position with immediate effect. According to news agency PTI, citing sources, the poll body has asked the Jharkhand government to remove Gupta due to a "history" of complaints against him in previous elections. The Jharkhand Assembly elections will be held in two phases—November 13 and 20.
The counting of the polls will be held on November 23. According to the report, the charge of the DGP will now be handed over to the senior most DGP-level officer in the cadre. Ajay Kumar Singh is widely expected to be reappointed as the state's DGP, with an official notification likely to be issued by the state government later on Saturday.
ALSO READ: Jharkhand Elections 2024: JMM, Congress To Contest 70 Seats, Talks Underway With RJD, Left For Remaining Seats According to news agency IANS, the directive comes amid two key reasons: First, Gupta was appointed as acting DGP on July 24, 2024. Second, complaints were lodged against him with the Election Commission.Gupta had previously faced allegations related to involvement in a horse-trading case during the Rajya Sabha elections, but he was later exonerated by the court.
Before Gupta, the 1989-batch IPS officer Ajay Kumar Singh had served as the state's DGP. His removal had been contested, leading to a contempt petition filed in the Supreme Court. The petitioner, Jamshedpur resident Naresh Makani, argued that Gupta's appointment violated the Supreme Court's 2018 guidelines, which prohibit ad hoc appointments to the post of DGP.
However, this is not the first instance of controversy over the appointments of the DGP Jharkhand. In 2019, then DGP K.N.
Choubey was replaced by M.V. Rao in a similar manner.
Ajay Kumar Singh took over the role on February 15, 2023, following Neeraj Sinha's completion of a two-year term, though Singh's appointment, too, had been challenged in court. ALSO READ: Jharkhand Elections: BJP Finalises Seat-Sharing With NDA Partners, To Contest 68 Seats; AJSU To Fight On 10 Seats.
