Met Cong prez during counting; Telangana DGP gets suspended

Hyderabad: The Election Commission of India suspended Director General of Police Telangana Anjani Kumar, charging violation of the Model Code of Conduct and relevant conduct rules.

The top cop had visited Anumula Revanth Reddy, the president of Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee and a contesting candidate in the ongoing Assembly elections, while the counting was going on. Anjani Kumar was accompanied by the State Police Nodal Officer, Telangana and Mahesh Bhagwat, Nodal (Expenditure). They went to Reddy’s residence with a flower bouquet to congratulate him, when the vote counting trend confirmed the Bharat Rashtra Samithi’s defeat and would be removed from power in Telangana.

Sources told news portal Live Mint that the DGP and those accompanied meeting a contesting candidate among 2,290 and the star campaigner of a political party is nothing but to seek favours.

The EC ordered that the next eligible-most officer be given the DGP’s charge immediately.

The suspended officer had created a bad precedent for his junior officers, violating the code of conduct. As the head of the police, the DGP must set an example for the entire police force, Live Mint’s sources said.

Further, it is learned that the EC has sought an explanation from state police nodal officer Sanjay Kumar Jain and nodal officer (expenditure) Mahesh M Bhagwat about the circumstances under which they met Revanth Reddy.