The Election Commission on Thursday ordered the immediate transfer of senior Odisha bureaucrat Sujata R Kartikeyan, wife of BJD leader V K Pandian, to a non-public dealing department, hours after BJP's complaint of alleged misuse of public office, sources said.

Pandian is a close associate of Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

Kartikeyan was holding the post of commissioner-cum-secretary in the Department of Mission Shakti, Odisha.

The sources said Kartikeyan was shunted out with immediate effect following complaints of alleged misuse of public office.

The BJP had petitioned the Election Commission to remove Karthikeyan from her post contending that she was "actively" operating as an agent of the ruling BJD in the state.

"It is unfortunate that the serving IAS officer has given a go-bye to professionalism and is actively indulging as an agent of the BJD because of the influence of her husband on her. She is actively participating in the elections as a front person of the BJD in a manner which has been unheard of earlier," it said.

"With a view to preserve the unbiased and unblemished reputation of the ECI, it would be in the fitness of things to relieve Sujata R Kartikeyan, IAS from the post of commissioner-cum secretary, department of of Mission Shakti, government of Odisha and not assigned any public dealing duty till the conclusion of the impending parliamentary and assembly elections in the state of Odisha," the BJP demanded.

Source: India Today