EC changes one DC, 3 SPs

In response to law and order issues during the election day and subsequent post-poll violence, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has appointed new officials for Palnadu and three other districts.
Latkar Srikesh Balaji has been named the new District Collector for Palnadu. The new Superintendents of Police are Malika Garg for Palnadu, Harshavardhan Raju for Tirupati, and Gautami Sali for Anantapur.
Chief Secretary Dr KS Jawahar Reddy and Director General of Police (DGP) Harish Kumar Gupta provided an explanation to the Election Commission of India (ECI) regarding the violence that occurred during and after polling on Monday. They were summoned to the ECI headquarters in New Delhi to explain the failures in preventing the violence.
Despite intelligence reports warning of potential violence, several incidents occurred in constituencies such as Macherla, Narasaraopet, Chandragiri, and Tadipatri. The ECI expressed dissatisfaction with the top officials’ failure to take adequate preventive measures. The Chief Secretary and DGP have been asked to outline the steps taken to prevent further incidents, as the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) for the General Election is still in effect. The ECI emphasised the need for stringent measures to ensure such violence does not recur.
Chief Electoral Officer Mukesh Kumar Meena announced that the ECI has directed the booking of cases and arrests of individuals who damaged Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) during polling. Additionally, actions will be taken against police officials and other election staff found guilty of dereliction of duty.
Following the ECI’s directives, the Chief Secretary met with the DGP and the Additional Director General (ADG) of Intelligence to review the situation and implement precautionary measures to prevent further violence.