Ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections, the Election Commission of India has appointed Ajay Kumar Singh, a senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, as the new Director General of Police (DGP) of Jharkhand. The decision comes just days after the removal of Anurag Gupta, who had been serving as the acting DGP. Singh, an IPS officer from the 1989 batch, was chosen from a panel of three officers nominated by the state government. His appointment follows the Election Commission's order to remove Anurag Gupta due to concerns over his previous involvement in election-related misconduct. Gupta, a 1990-batch officer, had been appointed as the acting DGP on July 26, replacing Singh, who was the state's police chief at the time.
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Singh was made the state's DGP in February 2023 after the retirement of his predecessor Neeraj Sinha. Singh's appointment last year ended the row over the appointment of the state's DGP as the Supreme Court had in January 2023 disposed of a contempt petition against the Jharkhand government and former police chief Neeraj Sinha. A petition had alleged that Sinha had been occupying the post of DGP even after his superannuation on January 31, 2022.
A bench, led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, had then directed the state to attend to the requisitions furnished by UPSC. On July 14, 2021, the court issued notices on the contempt plea against the state government, its top officials, and the UPSC for alleged violation of its verdict. On September 3, 2021, the apex court pulled up the state government and the UPSC for their role in the appointment of an interim DGP in alleged violation of its judgement of a two-year fixed tenure for a state police chief who has to be selected from a list to be prepared by the UPSC.
Later in July, soon after Gupta's appointment notification, a rift surfaced in the JMM-led ruling alliance over the DGP's appointment. Then state Congress president Rajesh Thakur had said the alliance partners were not taken in confidence while making "such a major decision". Earlier this month, the EC had asked the state government to submit a panel of names of senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officers by October 21 morning to enable it to pick an officer to be named the next DGP.
Jharkhand Assembly Elections 2024
The elections will take place in two phases, on November 13 and November 20, with counting scheduled for November 23. About 2.60 crore electors, including 11.84 lakh first-time voters and 1.13 lakh persons with disabilities, third-gender individuals, and senior citizens over 85, are expected to vote, compared to 2.23 crore in the 2019 assembly elections. he BJP, which lost power to the JMM-led alliance in Jharkhand in 2019, is looking to reclaim its position in the tribal-dominated state.
(With PTI inputs)
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