On Thursday, the Election Commission ordered the immediate suspension of senior IPS officer DS Kuttey, who works in the Odisha chief minister’s office, for undue interference in the conduct of elections. The Commission also directed another IPS officer, Ashish Singh, to undergo a detailed medical examination by a special medical board constituted by the director of AIIMS over similar allegations.
The ECI’s order stated that DS Kuttey, a 1997-batch IPS officer and special secretary to the Chief Minister, would be suspended under relevant service rules for his undue interference in the election process. Kuttey’s headquarters is now fixed at the Office of Resident Commissioner Odisha in New Delhi, where he must report by the afternoon of May 29. The Chief Electoral Officer of Odisha will provide the Chief Secretary of Odisha with a draft of the chargesheet to be issued to Kuttey, and the chargesheet must be arranged under relevant service rules by 5:00 pm on May 30.
Regarding Ashish Singh, a 2010-batch IPS officer currently serving as IG (CM security), the ECI noted that since he has been on medical leave since May 4, he must present himself for a detailed medical examination by a special medical board constituted by the director of AIIMS, Bhubaneshwar, no later than May 30. The Chief Electoral Officer will coordinate to ensure the constitution of this special medical board to ascertain Singh’s illness and treatment.
The ECI also ordered a swift investigation into the case against Prashant Jagdev, a BJP MLA candidate from the Khordha assembly constituency, who was arrested on Monday for allegedly damaging an EVM in a polling booth. The BJP has claimed that Jagdev was illegally arrested, asserting that CCTV footage from the polling booth shows Jagdev did not handle the EVM.
Last month, the Bharatiya Janata Party accused Kuttey of working for the Biju Janata Dal from the Chief Minister’s Office and demanded that his cellphones be seized and call details records (CDR) be retrieved. They also demanded action against Ashish Singh, alleging that he was unduly influencing the election even after being transferred from the post of IG Central Range.
Earlier this month, the Election Commission ordered the transfer of senior Odisha bureaucrat Sujata R Kartikeyan, wife of BJD leader VK Pandian, from the Department of Mission Shakti to a non-public dealing department after complaints of misuse of public office. The BJP alleged that Sujata, through the Department of Mission Shakti, was coercing women’s self-help groups (SHGs) by threatening to withhold government financial benefits, thereby influencing them to vote for the Biju Janata Dal in the upcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. The 7 lakh women SHG groups controlled by Mission Shakti have become an important vote bank for the BJD over the last two elections.
