IAS officer pays the price for sharing his Gujarat election posting on Instagram; EC removes him from duty by calling it a 'publicity stunt'
New Delhi, November 18
A Uttar Pradesh IAS officer has been removed by the Election Commission as a general observer for the Gujarat assembly polls for indulging in a “publicity stunt” by posting pictures of his assignment on Instagram, sources said on Friday.
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In a strongly-worded letter to the Chief Electoral Officer of Gujarat on Friday, the EC said Abhishek Singh–I, a 2011-batch officer, used Instagram for sharing his posting as a general observer and used his official position as a “publicity stunt”.
The poll panel also shared with the CEO pictures uploaded by the officer on the social media platform, the sources said.
Citing the EC communication, the sources said the poll panel took “a very serious view” of the matter and relieved Singh immediately of his duties as a general observer.
Singh describes himself as a public servant, actor and a social entrepreneur on his Twitter handle. He had posted the same set of pictures on his Twitter handle too on Thursday.
He has also been debarred from any election-related duty till further orders. The officer was also directed to immediately leave the constituency of which he was given the responsibility and report to his nodal officer in the parent cadre.
All government facilities provided to him to facilitate the discharge of his observer duties be withdrawn, the letter said, according to the sources.
Another IAS officer has been given the additional charge of Bapunagar and Asarwa assembly seats in Ahmedabad district Singh was handling, they said.
Meanwhile, in a Twitter post, Abhishek Singh said he accepted the ECI decision with all humility. “I accept the Hon’ble ECI’s decision with all humility. Though I believe there’s nothing wrong in this post. A public servant, in a car bought by public’s money, reporting for public duty, with public officials, communicating it to the public. It is neither publicity nor a stunt!,” he wrote.
I accept the Hon’ble ECI’s decision with all humility 🙏
Though I believe there’s nothing wrong in this post. A public servant, in a car bought by public’s money, reporting for public duty,with public officials, communicating it to the public. It is neither publicity nor a stunt! https://t.co/T89c1K6PMi— Abhishek Singh (@Abhishek_asitis) November 18, 2022
