No.437/6/'1 /l N ST/EC UFU NCTIMCC/2o1 6

To

f+qf-.rrl $-fiNIRVACHAN SADAN

etsltd rls, q-$ m - riooorASHOKA ROAD, NEW DELHI . I 10 OOI

Dated: 7b September, 2016

xa'.%- sRdffin ailzttTz-.$ Election Commission of tndia

1. The Chief Secretaries /CEOs(D Goa, Panaji;(ii) Manipur, lmphal;(itD Punjab,Chandigarh;(iv) Uttarakhand,Dehradun;(v) Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow.

Subject - General Elections to the State Legislative Assemblies of Goa, Manipur,Punjab, Uttarakhand and Uttar pradesh- Tra nsfer/posting of officers _

regarding.

Sir/Madam,

lam directed to state that the term of existing Legistative Assembly of Goa,Manipur, Puniab, is up to-1Brh March,2016, of Uttarakhand up to 26rh March, 20.16 and ofUttar Pradesh is up to 27th May,2016 .

2. The commission has.been following a consislent poticy that officers direcflyconnected with conduct of eleclions in an election going state/UT are not posted in theirhome districts or places.where they have served for considerably long period.

3. Hence, the commission has decided that no officer connected direcflv with

lf she/he is posted in her/his home district.

tf she/he has completed three years in that district during last four (4)years or would be completing 3 years on or befo re

r 31.03.2017 in case ofGoa, Manipur, punjab, Uttarakhand; and

. 31.05-2017 in case of Uftar pradesh.

(i) while implementing the above said instructions / transferring officers,the concerned departments should take care that they are not posted to their home

(a)

(b)

Tel: 011-23052205-18, Fax : 011_230522?3-25, Websile:ur'ww ecr.nic in

"r-q5at6dr - sil61qrffi"/, - ^ -t ^.. rr _ r': ^: _ _d ^_- t-- _ (.- ^ - _ ^-,r-_- ^ ^-^ ^-- /s

(ii) lf the smaller stateslUTs with a few districts, face any difficulty in complianceof this, then they may refer the specific case with reasons, through cEo for exemptionand the Commission would consider and issue necessary directions.

Applicability-

.4. (a) These inslructions cover not only o{ficers appointed for specific electionduties like DEos, Dy. DEos, Ros/ARos, ERoslAEROs, of{icers appointed as nodal

officers of any specific election works but also district officers like ADMs, SDMs, Dy.

collector/Joint collector, Tehsildar, Block Development officers or any olher officer ofequal rank directly deployed for election works

(b) As far as officers in the police Department are concerned, theseinstructions shall be :ipplicable to the Range lGs, DlGs, commandants of state ArmedPolice, sSPs, SPs, Addl. sPs, Sub-Divisional Head of police, sHos, lnspectors, Sub-lnspector, Rls /sergeant Majors or equivalent who are responsible for deployment offorce in the district at election time or equivalent ranks who are responsible for securitymanagement or deployment of police force in the district at election time_

Complia nce

5 The implementation of the commission's aforesaid instructions shascrupulously be followed by all concerned deparlments of the state/UT, The DEo orconcerned district offlcers should ensure lhat offlcers/officia ls who are transferred shouldimmediately handover their charge without waiting for their substitute.

Clarifi cations/Relaxations-

6. Following are the clarifi cations/relaxations.

(i; the potice officials who are posted in functional departments like computerization,

special branch, training, etc. are not covered under these instructions.(ii) The Police sub-lnspectors and above should not be posted in their home district.(iii) lf a police sub- inspector has completed or would be completing a tenure of 3

years out of four years on or before the cutoff date in a police sub-divlsion, thenhe should be transferreil out to a police subdivision which does not fall in thesame AC. lf it is not possible due to small size of district, then he/she should be

transferred oul of district.

ts

(iv) ln any erection very large number of emproyees are drafted for different type ofelection duty and the commission has no intention of massive disrocation of sratemachinery by massive transfers. Hence, the aforesaid transfer pqlicy is norrnafly not

rincioals etc. However, if there are specificcompraints of poriticar bias or prejudice against any such govt. officer which onenquiry are found to be substantiated, the then cEo/ECr may order nor onry fortransfer of such official but also appropriate departmental actions against him.

(v) officers appointed as sector officers/Zonar Magistrate invorved in erection dutiesare not covered under these instiuctions. However, the observers,cEo/ DEosand Ros shourd keep a close watch on their conduct to ensure that they are fairand non-partisan in the performance of their duties.

(vi) while carcurating the period of three years, promotion to a post within the diskict isto be counted .

(vii)These instructions do nol appry to officers posted in the State headquarters ofthedepa rtmenl concerned.

(viii) The commission arso desires that the officers/officiars against whom commissionhad recommended disciptinary action in past and which is pending or which hascurminated with a penarty or who have been charged for any rapse in any erectionor erection rerated work in lhe past, sha, not be assigned any election rerated duty.However' an officer who was transferred during any past erection under ECr orderwithout any recommendation of disciprinary actions w r not be, just on this ground,considered for transfer unress specificary directed so by the commission aboutany such oiiicer. A copy of commission's instruction number 464/rNST/2008_Epsdated 23'd December.2.'g regarding tracking of names of tainted officers isenclosed. CEOs must ensure its compliance.

(ix) The commission further desires thai no officer/officiar against whom a criminarca'se is pending in any court of Law be associated with the erection work orelection related duty.

(x) Further, whire implernenting the above directions, the chief Erectoral officer of thestate/UT shal invariabty be consurted whire posting the persons in prace of present

octors. gnqineers. teac

tls

incumbents who sland transferred as per this poricy of the commission. The copiesof lhe transfer orders issued under these directions sha, be given ro lhe chiefElectoral Officer without fail.

(xi) The transfer orders in respect of officers/ofticiars, who are engaged in the electorarro's revision work, if any, sha, be impremented onry afler finar publication of theerectorar ro[s' in consurtation with the chief Erectorar officer concerned .rn case ofany need for transfer due to any extra ordinary reasons , prior approval of theCommission shall be taken.

(xii) Any officer who is due to retire within the coming six months wi, be exempted fromthe purview of the above-mentioned directions of the commission. Further officersfa'ing in catggory (home/3+ crireria if they are due to fetire within 6 months) sha,not be engaged for performing erection duties during the erections withoulpermission of the Commission.

(xiii) lt is further crarified that a[ the officiars of the state, who are on extension ofservice or re-employed in different capacities will not be associaled with anyerection rerated work except those posted in the office of the chief ErectorarOfficer.

(xiv) A',erection rerated officers wi, be required to give a decraration rn the formatgiven berow to DEo concerned who sha, inform c Eo accordingry if any officergive information other than NIL

NorE-Anyfalse A;=ffiffi,ql,o*

1s

Compliance report-

7. Details of the action taken may be intimated to the Commission for its informationimmediately.

8' Please bring to the notice of a[ concerned the above said instructions for strictcompliance.

copy to sr- pr- secy. /pr. secy/SecretarieslUnder secretaries of tenitoriarsections for information ,nd necessary "ati"".--

'-"'

Yt

ELECTION COMTVIISSI OF INDII\NIRVACHAN SADAN, ASHOKA ROAD IIEW DELHT-11000{.

No 464/INST/2008/EPS

Io

Subject

Re{'

Date: 23'" December 2008

[-he Chief Electoral Officersof all States/UTs

Tracking the names of officers transferred by the order of the ElectionConrmission of lndia charged with dereliction of duty etc.

No.437l6/2006-PLN.lll dated 6th Novermber,2006 & ECI messageNo.1O0/1994-PLN.| dated 28.3. '1 9S4 addressed to the CEOs of all States& UTs

SilMadam,

The Election Commission of lndia vide the instruction referred to above haddirecled that a deiailed teview shall be undertaken before every election in a[ districtsand all such officers should be posted out of their home districts or district where theyhave compleled a lenure of 3 years out of 4 years, and had further directed thalofficers/officials againsl whom Commission has recommended disciplinary action orwho have been charged for any lapse in etection or election related work oi who weretransferred under the orders of the commission in the matter may not be assigned to:- any election related duty.

Howover, il was observed during recent elections that in spite of efforts made bythe cEos and the DEos 1o comply the above instruction of the commission, there werestill some ins{ances of the officers who come under the above criteria and liable to betransferred out of the district to a non election related assignment but managed to stayback and the comrnission came to know about this only at a later stage througrrcornplaints being raised by various political parties and members of public. Theseincidents, though few in nurnbers, send a v,rrong signal at the field level and nonmaintenance of proper information about the officers liable to be transfered on the- above criteria has been recognised as a reason for some stray incidents of non-cornpliance. ln order to rernove the possibility of ihe occurrence of such incidents infulure, the commission has issued the following directions lo make the exis nginstruction more effective.-

il

The cEo of the state shall maintain a register in whrch the information aboutIAS/IPS officers, DEOs, ROs and EROs transferred by the order of theElection Commission.aid against whom Commission has recommendeddisciplinary action or who have been charged for any lapse in election orelectior.r related work shall be rnaintained.

sirlilarly. thc DFo will maintarn a register containing information about otherjunior officers and other staff,

willrirr r' .l;rvs ot the announcement o{ eleclions by the Election commissionol lrrdra the c[o of the state will send a compliance letter to the ZonalSer;retary i. lhe conrrpission confirming that all the officers coming under the;rhove r:rrtr-'ria have heen transferred Similarly he shall obtain a similar

ilt

compliance cerlificate from all lhe DEOs confirnring that all the officers/staffconring under the above criteria have been transferred to non election relatedassignmenl and out of the district.

Wilh reference to transfer of officers coming under '3 years oul of 4 yearscriteria' and the home district criteria,. DEOs shall ensure compliance inrespocl of ROs, EROs, AROs and AEROs and other election related officialsand send a letter to CEO within the time, if any, stipulated for this purpose bythe Election Comrnission of lndia or CEO and if not, within 7 days of issue ofpres8 note announcing lhe elections. Similarly, information related to DEOs,SSP and SPs and other senior police officials connected with the electionwork shall be rnaintainod by the CEO and compliance by the State Govt shallbe ensured at his level Compliance regarding the transfer ol these officersshall bo collected from the DEOs and the CEO of the State shall send aconsolidated letter of compliance lo the Zonal Secretary within 7 days of theannouncement of election.

To fdcilitate the submission of this compliance letter within 7 days of theannouncement of election, the CEO and DEO shdll collect the iniormationand ensure maintenince of register as stated above welt in advance so thatno time is lost.

There are many departmenls in the State Government that are involved intransfeffing oflicials and thereby accountable for the compliance of the aboveinstructions of the Commission. The Commission's instruction regardingtransfer of the officials during election shall be brought to the notice of theSecretaries of the departments concerned with a copy to the Chief Secretary.Tho Chief Secretary may be requested by the CEO to ensure that all thedepartments concerned 'comply with the Commission's instruction well intime

Vll With regard to bye-elections while the officers coming under the category,dealt within para marked as (l) shall be transferred out of the district withinthree days of announcement of bye-election and cerlainly before the first daysof receipt of nomination whichever is earlier-

Vlll. The above instruction be followed without any deviation-

Yours faithfully,

))(SHANGARA RAM)

PRINCIPAL SECRETARY