New Delhi, April 2 (IANS): The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday issued transfer orders for District Magistrates (DM), Superintendents of Police (SP), and DIG/IG rank officers in five states.

According to the directives of the poll panel, the transferred officers, who will not be assigned any election duty, have been told to hand over charge to their immediate junior officers. The respective state governments have also been directed to send a panel of names of IAS and IPS officers to the Commission.

The transfers have been ordered in Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.

According to the ECI, the decision was taken at a regular review meeting conducted by the poll panel, which was chaired by Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar and attended by Election Commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, among others.

The officers transferred include the DM of Udalgiri in Assam, the DMs and SPs in Bihar's Bhojpur and Nawada districts, and the SP in Jharkhand's Deoghar.

The ECI has also directed to fill the vacant posts of SP (Rural) Ranchi, DIG Palamu, and IG Dumka, all in Jharkhand.

In Odisha, the DMs of Cuttack and Jagatsinghpur, the SPs of Angul, Behrampur, Khurda, and Rourkela, the DCP of Cuttack, and the IG Central have also been transferred.

In Andhra Pradesh, the ECI has transferred the DMs of Krishna, Ananthpuramu, and Tirupati districts, the SPs of Prakasham, Palnadu, Chittoor, Anathpuramu, and Nellore districts, and the IGP of Guntur Range.