CHENNAI: DMK organising secretary and Rajya Sabha member R S Bharathi has urged the Election Commission of India (ECI) to transfer 10 police officers so that free and fair polling is held in the upcoming general elections and Assembly by-elections.

In a petition submitted to the Chief Election Commissioner and the Chief Electoral Officer of Tamil Nadu on Tuesday, he said the Election Commission of India had issued instructions to all chief secretaries and Chief Electoral Officers of the respective States to transfer officials directly connected with the conduct of elections from their home districts or places where they had served for a long time.

The object of such transfers is to stop police officers from going out of their way to favour ruling party members, he said. Giving a list of police officials, Bharathi said that there would not be free and fair elections if they were retained at the places where they were working. Among the police officers that Bharathi has named are DGP TK Rajendran, IGP (intelligence), KN Sathyamurthy, IG (internal security) C Easwaramoorthy, IG North Zone Nagarajan, IG Central Zone V Varadharaju, IG West Zone K Periaiah, and ADSP intelligence K Rajendran.