The Election Commission has cited two specific provisions for suspending an IAS officer who checked PM Narendra Modi’s chopper in Odisha on 16 April.
Mohammed Mohsin, a Karnataka cadre IAS officer who was on duty as an election observer in Odisha’s Sambalpur district, was suspended with immediate effect for “dereliction of duty” and “acting contrary to the instructions of the Commission concerning SPG protectees”, a poll panel letter said.
The letter cites two instructions by the Election Commission regarding SPG protectees, which, according to the commission, Mohammed “has not acted in conformity with”.
However, the instructions mentioned in the letter appear to say nothing about the vehicle of an SPG protectee being exempt from any kind of checking during elections. The instructions pertain to the PM’s use of government vehicles during election campaigns, but mentions nothing about searches.