The IAS officers who made these 5 state elections controversy-free

File photo of a voter | PTI

Barring a voter deletion row and charges of EVM tampering in Telangana, the recently-held Assembly elections saw little controversy.

New Delhi: The Election Commission of India has of late been under a cloud, with allegations that it is being influenced by the Modi government. But the recently-concluded elections in five states should put some of the controversies to rest.

The assembly elections — in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana, Mizoram and Chhattisgarh — were largely controversy-free, barring the voter deletion row and the Congress accusations of EVM tampering in Telangana.

There were also the occasional complaints of EVMs being found in hotel rooms and unmarked school buses in Madhya Pradesh.

For the large part, though, the Election Commission came out with its reputation intact. There were none of the charges of large-scale EVM tampering or the EC favouring the ruling party.

ThePrint looks at the officials in charge of the most crucial round of assembly elections before the Lok Sabha polls in 2019.

Telangana

Telangana chief electoral officer (CEO) Rajat Kumar, who was appointed in February, is probably the only one on the list to face a serious controversy.

Kumar had to contend with the voter deletion row, which was highlighted two days before the elections, when several people, including badminton star Jwala Gutta, complained that their names had been missing from the voter’s list.

Following the complaints, the CEO issued a clarification that the deletion of names had been done as per due process. It also put the onus on voters saying they should have checked if their names were on the rolls.

Kumar, a 1991-batch IAS officer became the first CEO of Telangana. He was appointed secretary in the Forest Department before taking charge as CEO.

Madhya Pradesh

The current CEO of Madhya Pradesh, where the Congress has emerged victorious, was appointed after a controversy. V.L. Kanta Rao, who was appointed in July, replaced Salina Singh, who was removed from her post by the EC amid allegations from the Congress that the number of fake voters was increasing in the state.

Rao, a 1992-batch IAS officer was the principal secretary in the state government, prior to his appointment as CEO. He was the additional CEO of MP during the 2013 assembly polls.

To ensure that there was no controversy surrounding EVMs after counting, Rao made sure that the machines were kept under three-tier security inside the strong rooms before counting day.

Rajasthan

Rajasthan’s CEO Anand Kumar was brought in amid allegations of serious violations of rules by his predecessor Ashwani Bhagat. Bhagat had pushed through the publication of electoral rolls in an editable format, which is against Election Commission rules.

For this election, ample security arrangements around EVMs were ensured in Rajasthan.

Kumar, who hails from Rewari in Haryana, is a 1994-batch IAS officer. Before becoming the CEO, he served as district collector in Dholpur, Dungarpur, Barmer and Udaipur districts.

Mizoram

Much like his Rajasthan counterpart, CEO of Mizoram Ashish Kundra was brought in amid much controversy days before the state went to polls.

Kundra replaced S.B. Shashank, whose removal was demanded by civil society groups in the state after he decided to allow Bru voters lodged in Tripura relief camps to exercise their franchise from there.

Kundra is an AGMUT cadre IAS officer of the 1996 batch. He had served as the commissioner, Finance Planning and Investment department, in Arunachal Pradesh.

Chhattisgarh

Subrat Sahoo, the CEO of Chhattisgarh, dealt with possibly one of the toughest states due to its law and order situation. Elections in the state took place amid threats from Naxalism.

There was a Naxal attack just before the state went to polls in November, following which the CEO had to undertake extra measures to reassure voters.  Ahead of the elections, he had held live interactions with voters on Facebook.

Sahoo is a Chhattisgarh cadre IAS officer of the 1992 batch. He has served as district magistrate in districts of Dhamtari, Surguja and Durg.