IAS officer removed from Gujarat poll duty for Twitter post; what he says

The Election Commission (EC) on Friday (November 18) removed an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer from Gujarat Assembly election duties for his social media posts.

Abhishek Singh, an Uttar Pradesh cadre IAS officer, was assigned duties for next month’s Assembly polls in Gujarat. He was an “observer” for the elections.

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On Thursday, Singh shared two pictures on Instagram and Twitter. He captioned the post, “Joined Ahmedabad as Observer for Gujarat Elections.”

In one photo, Singh is standing in front of his official car with a beacon and “Election Commission of India Observer” written on the front part of the vehicle.

In the other picture, he is posing in front of the car along with some officials and an armed security person.

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The EC decided to taken action for these posts as it felt Singh was doing “publicity stunt”.

Reacting to EC’s decision, Singh said he accepts with “all humility”. He also went on to say that there is nothing wrong with his social media posts and said it was “neither publicity nor a stunt”.

“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 posted on Twitter on Friday.

Gujarat Assembly elections will be held in two phases, on December 1 and 5. The results will be declared on December 8.

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