The Election Commission ordered the transfer of Rashmi Shukla, who was the Director General of Police of Maharashtra, after she was accused of phone-tapping by the Congress.

The chief secretary of the state has been directed to send a panel of three IPS officers for appointment of the new DGP of Maharashtra by November 5.

Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole had written to Rajiv Kumar on October 31, requesitng him to remove Rashmi Shukla from her position and had accused her of displaying a "clear bias" against opposition parties in the state, including the Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP), news agency ANI reported.

"She (Rashmi Shukla) has shown a clear bias against the Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), and NCP(SP), as evidenced by her previous record of illegal phone tapping of opposition leaders while serving as Commissioner of Police, Pune, and Commissioner of the State Intelligence Department (SID)," he said in the letter.

He had also claimed that the state witnessed numerous incidents of political violence against opposition leaders in the past few days.
"While the DGP of Jharkhand was removed immediately after the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) was enforced, DGP Maharashtra was exempted," Patole said.

While announcing the Maharashtra Assembly elections, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar had warned officials to not only be impartial and fair, but also perceived to be non-partisan in their conduct while carrying out their duties.

Source: India Today