Bhubaneswar: EC orders Sujata’s transfer over misuse of public office

New Delhi/Bhubaneswar : The Election Commission on Thursday ordered the immediate transfer of senior Odisha bureaucrat Sujata R Karthikeyan, wife of BJD leader V K Pandian, to a non-public dealing department, hours after BJP’s complaint of alleged misuse of public office, sources said. Pandian is a close associate of Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

Sujata was holding the post of Commissioner-cum-Secretary in the Department of Mission Shakti, Odisha. The sources said Sujata was shunted out with immediate effect following complaints of alleged misuse of public office. The BJP had petitioned the Election Commission to remove Sujata from her post contending that she was ‘’actively’’ operating as an agent of the ruling BJD in the State.

‘’It is unfortunate that the serving IAS officer has given a go-by to professionalism and is actively indulging as an agent of the BJD because of the influence of her husband on her. She is actively participating in the elections as a front person of the BJD in a manner which has been unheard of earlier,’’ it said.

‘’With a view to preserve the unbiased and unblemished reputation of the ECI, it would be in the fitness of things to relieve Sujata R Karthikeyan, IAS, from the post of Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Department of Mission Shakti, government of Odisha and not assigned any public dealing duty till the conclusion of the impending Parliamentary and Assembly elections in the State of Odisha,’’ the BJP demanded.

The Women Self-Help Groups (SHGs) have a sizeable number of about 70 lakh women voters in the State, the BJP leaders said, adding that in the name of spreading voters’ awareness among the women SHGs, the Mission Shakti Secretary has been allegedly helping the BJD.