EC shows Chahal the door

Since the BJP could not induce Shinde to move out the municipal commissioner, it tacitly persuaded the EC to order the transfer of the controversial IAS officer

- SHEFALI PARAB-PANDIT

Despite strong resistance from the Mahayuti government in general and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde in particular, on Monday, the Election Commission of India ordered the removal of Municipal Commissioner I S Chahal. The state government had written twice to the ECI to let it retain Chahal, who is widely seen as CM Shinde’s blue-eyed boy, but the EC firmly rejected the request and at the iconic BMC headquarters, Chahal was shown the door.

Chahal's proximity to Shinde was such that even the ruling BJP could not ease him out, despite the best efforts of senior party leaders like Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, Ashish Shelar, Kirit Somaiya et al.

Fadnavis even got the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) to probe a slew of controversial contracts worth thousands of crores of rupees awarded by Chahal, in whom all the powers of the statutory committees were vested following the end of the five-year term of the corporations, two years ago. But these efforts too came to naught.