Andhra election chief orders transfer of CM’s go-to IAS officer, alleges he ‘scuttled’ polls

AP state election commissioner has alleged that Andhra CM Jagan Mohan Reddy's principal secretary, Praveen Prakash, deliberately ignored the poll body's orders.

Praveen Prakash (in sleeveless jacket) serves as Principal Secretary to the CM in his office as well as Secretary of the crucial General Administration Department (GAD) | Twitter | @egodavarigoap

New Delhi: The Andhra Pradesh State Election Commissioner Ramesh Kumar has ordered the transfer of Praveen Prakash, principal secretary to the chief minister, for “scuttling the conduct of free and fair elections” in the state, ThePrint has learnt.

Kumar Thursday wrote a letter to Chief Secretary Aditya Nath Das alleging that the General Administration (Poll) Department, which Prakash heads in addition to his job as CM Jagan Mohan Reddy’s principal secretary, did not implement the State Election Commission (SEC)’s orders deliberately. Prakash failed to take any action against the officers, who were charged with dereliction of duty by the state poll panel, stated the letter dated 28 January.

ThePrint has accessed this letter.

Further, the SEC has prohibited Prakash from interacting directly with district magistrates and superintendents of police on matters relating to elections.

Sources in the state government, however, told ThePrint that the SEC’s orders may not be implemented by the government since Prakash is not responsible for the conduct of elections and thus, does not come under the purview of the poll body.

A 1994 batch IAS officer, Prakash emerged as a power centre in Andhra Pradesh’s government after he joined the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) as Reddy’s principal secretary in 2019.

ThePrint contacted Prakash for a comment via phone calls and text messages, but did not receive a response till the time of publishing this report.

The SEC is an independent and constitutional body responsible for holding local body elections in every state. Like the Chief Election Commissioner of India is appointed by the President, similarly, the State Election Commissioner is appointed by the Governor of the state.

‘Prakash acted in prejudicial manner’

In his letter to the chief secretary, Kumar, the Andhra election commissioner, said that no action was taken against the officers “because of the failure as well as the intransigent attitude of GAD headed by Mr. Prakash, who has also reportedly scuttled the video conference convened on January 23 to review the poll preparedness, and instructed the Collectors and Superintendents of Police as well as other officers not to participate in the commission meetings. As a consequence, the commission was forced to reschedule the first phase of Gram Panchayat elections”.

“Having thus reached the conclusion that Mr. Prakash has acted in a prejudicial manner to scuttle the conduct of free and fair elections which were upheld by a division bench of the High Court and subsequently by the Supreme Court, he is to be transferred,” the letter added.

Kumar’s action against Prakash comes months after the Andhra Pradesh government had promulgated an ordinance in April 2020 to remove Kumar as the SEC for reportedly postponing the elections to rural and urban local bodies in view of the Covid-19 pandemic,  an order which was struck down by the Supreme Court itself.

Prakash counters complaint 

Responding to the allegations levelled by Kumar, Prakash in a letter to the chief secretary, dated 29 January, said that his office is not an independent office, and is instead one that reports to the chief secretary. Hence, it is curious why he alone is being held accountable regarding inaction against some officers.

“Since the inception of AIS (All India Service), every IAS officer serving as well as retired knows that as far as AIS officers’ issues are concerned, the decision never ends at the principal secretary (political) level. He is just a supporting officer to the Chief Secretary like five other Principal Secretaries in the GAD. So, holding me accountable for the point above raised is in what way justifiable sir? Is it fair? Is it ethical sir?” Prakash had stated in the letter, which ThePrint has accessed.

Govt’s issues with SEC

A day before Kumar wrote to Chief Secretary Das, Das had written to the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) in the Centre alleging that the SEC’s orders to compulsorily retire some officers is a “jurisdictional error”.

“The proceedings issued by the State Election Commissioner administering censure against two IAS officers and to direct that the same will form part of their service record is without competency and jurisdiction and nothing but transgressing into the powers vested with the state government,” the letter, dated 27 January, said. “Any instrument issued without competency is illegal and bad in law.”

ThePrint has accessed this letter too.

Prakash not new to controversy

This is not the first time Prakash, who hails from Uttar Pradesh, has found himself in the midst of controversy.

Only last year, in a major development, Prakash stoked a row when he shunted out then Andhra chief secretary, L.V. Subrahmanyam, a 1983 batch officer, after the official issued a show cause notice to Prakash over an alleged procedural lapse.

While questions have emerged about the level of power Prakash wields given his position within the CMO, the man, seen as Reddy’s “go-to-officer”, had last year denied claims of centralisation of power while speaking to ThePrint.