UP protests removal of Home Secretaries; EC stands its ground

New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh is the only state out of the six where the poll watchdog dismissed the home secretary on Monday who is known to have protested the removal of Sanjay Prasad, the state's official. The Election Commission (EC), though, didn't budge.

One of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's most trusted officials is reportedly Prasad, an IAS officer from the 1995 batch. In September 2022, he assumed the role of Principal Secretary (Home), Indian Express reported.

Sources claimed that Durga Shanker Mishra, the chief secretary of Uttar Pradesh, wrote to the EC to express disapproval of the Commission's decision to remove the home secretaries within hours of its announcement. He maintained that there was no conflict of interest because Prasad had given up the additional responsibility of the Chief Minister's Office days before the announcement of the Lok Sabha elections and the implementation of the Model Code of Conduct.

However, in response to Mishra, the Commission reiterated its directive and requested that he abide by it by providing the EC with a panel of three names for the purpose of selecting Prasad's replacement during the polling time. “While the Commission considered the state government’s stance, the order was reaffirmed,” said a source.

While all states agreed with the Commission's ruling on the same day, sources claim that Uttar Pradesh initially resisted but eventually gave in.

The Commission decided to remove six home secretaries in an attempt to create a distinct division between the ruling party and the state bureaucracy. This is accomplished by making sure that no home secretaries are involved in the Chief Minister's Office's operations. “This measure is implemented to ensure a level playing field,” added a source.

The states of Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand were the only ones in which the Chief Minister's Office functions were also overseen by the Home Secretaries.