Thiruvananthapuram: The election commission has, in an unprecedented move, appointed two more IAS officers to the office of the chief electoral officer in the state. The appointment of Tinku Biswal and K Jeevan Babu as additional and deputy chief electoral officers has brought four IAS officials to the office besides chief electoral officer E K Majhi and additional chief electoral officer M Beena.
However, with some other officers on election duty in other states, the shortage of officials has taken a toll on the routine administration in the state. "Files are pending clearance in major departments like finance and civil supplies since the heads are absent. The general administration 'A' department, responsible for sending the list of officials available for election duty, should have done it judiciously by excluding the heads of crucial departments as is the practice in the other states," a senior government official said.
The office of the chief electoral officer was headed by a senior IAS official in the state till the last Lok Sabha election. Nalini Netto had been the chief electoral officer for 10 years, supervising the last two Lok Sabha elections and two assembly elections. Similarly, her predecessor P J Thomas had held the post for a decade.
Beena was holding the charge of managing director of the state industrial development corporation and Ayush secretary.
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