Bhubaneswar: Ahead of the ensuing by-election to the Bijepur Assembly constituency in Bargarh district scheduled on February 24, the Election Commission (EC) on Wednesday appointed Surendra Kumar, senior IAS officer of 1993 batch, as the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Odisha in place of DN Gupta.
The Commission has informed the state government about the appointment of Kumar as the new CEO after issuing a gazette notification to this effect.
Kumar is now having the dual charge as principal secretary, ST and SC Welfare and principal secretary, I&PR.
Following the decision of the EC, there is every likelihood that the state government would effect a major reshuffle in the IAS cadre.
It is worthwhile here to mention that the EC in the last week had apprised the state government of the replacement of DN Gupta and asked to recommend the name of three senior IAS officers to be appointed as CEO.
Acting on the directive, the state government had recommended the name of Surendra Kumar, Vir Vikram Yadav, secretary, Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare and DV Swami, Revenue Divisional Commissioner (RDC), Northern Division.
