EC Approves Appointment Of 2 New SPs & DCP Ahead Of Elections In Odisha

Bhubaneswar: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has approved appointment of three IPS officers as Rourkela SP, Cuttack DCP, and Angul SP in Odisha.

From the panel of eligible officers sent by the Odisha Chief Secretary, the Commission has approved the names of Brijesh Kumar Rai for the post of Rourkela SP, Prakash R as Cuttack DCP, and Umashankar Dash as Angul SP.

On April 2, the ECI had ordered transfer of 6 IPS officers, including Cuttack DCP Kanwar Vishal Singh, Rourkela SP Mitrabhanu Mohapatra, and Angul SP Sudhanshu Sekhar Mishra, to non-election related posts with immediate effect.

The other 3 officers, who were shifted, are IGP (central range) Ashis Singh, Khurda SP Jugal Kishore Banoth, Rourkela SP Mitrabhanu Mohapatra, and Berhampur SP Saravana Vivek Kumar. Cuttack Collector Vineet Bharadwaj and Jagatsinghpur Collector Parul Patwari were also transferred.

It had also asked the Chief Secretary to provide panel of three eligible officers each for these posts.

The ECI’s order came a couple of days after BJP’s MP candidate from Berhampur, Pradeep Panigrahy, alleged that an IG-ranked IPS officer was threatening politicians in Ganjam district asking them not to leave the BJD.