Shimla, Mar 18 (PTI) Himachal Pradesh home and vigilance secretary Abhishek Jain was on Monday relieved of his charge with immediate effect after the Election Commission ordered large-scale transfers of bureaucrats in six states ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

Seeking to ensure a level-playing field in the polls, the Election Commission ordered the removal of the home secretaries of Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, and also directed the shunting out of West Bengal DGP Rajeev Kumar.

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Jain, however, will continue to function as the secretary of the information technology, finance, planning and economics and statistics departments of Himachal Pradesh. He is also the secretary of the Chief Minister's Office.

Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur said that since the home secretary was also looking after the CMO, this step should have been taken earlier.

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"We are apprehensive that the Congress government can try to influence the elections and we welcome the move of the Election Commission of India," he added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)