The Election Commission of India has on Wednesday transferred Coimbatore District Collector Rajamani and Police Commissioner Sumit Sharan to the non-election posts. The development has come when Tamil Nadu is two weeks ahead of the crucial assembly polls and the seats in the district have become one of the most- watching constituencies across and beyond the borders. 

By transferring the bureaucrats, the Election Commission has also directed the state government to appoint the replacement with IAS officer S Nagarajan as the new district collector and Davidson Devasirvatham as the Commissioner of Police. In a communication to Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary Rajeev Ranjan, the Election Commission had said that it has taken the decision to transfer the two officials based on various inputs. 

The transfer order has come into effect immediately and Coimbatore collector Rajamani and Commissioner Sumit Sharan have been posted to the non-election posts. The reports say that the order is expected to be in place till the vote counting and the new officials will be taking over the posts. Nagarajan is currently the Director of the Entrepreneurship Development and Innovation Institute and Davidson Devasirvatham is currently the Additional Director General of Police, Technical Services. 

The Election Commission has passed the order as it holds the authority of transferring, removing, and appointing the bureaucrats when the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) plays its role in conducting the elections. As Tamil Nadu is gearing up for the assembly polls, the MCC has come into effect recently and the Election Commission has been conducting inspections and observing the movements of vehicles to ensure that no illegitimate money dominates the polls. 

The Election Commission had dismantled several plots of distributing cash to the voters by recovering money and it has also transferred the officials earlier based on the inputs and allegations. In line with that, the Election Commission had transferred the Coimbatore district collector and the Police Commissioner. Coimbatore has become one of the star constituencies where some of the big shots will be clashing against each other. 

It had drawn major attention as the rivals have been carrying out extensive campaigns in the district. MNM's Kamal Haasan, BJP's Vanathi Srinivasan, and Congress's Mayura Jayakumar will be contesting in the Coimbatore South constituency while ADMK's bighead and senior minister SP Velumani will be clashing with DMK's candidate Karthikeya Sivasenapathy in Thondamuthur. Sivasenapathy had gained popularity through his support for the Jallikattu protests and campaigning for preserving the natural breed of cattle. 

In an unprecedented fashion, Tamil Nadu has been witnessing five fronts in the race of the reign - the ruling ADMK alliance, the opposition DMK alliance, Kamal Haasan- Sarathkumar - IJK, AMMK- DMDK, and Seeman's Naam Tamilar Katchi, which will be contesting independently. Tamil Nadu will go to the single-phase poll on April 6 and the votes will be counted on May 2, during which the results will be announced.