The Karnataka BJP has approached the Election Commission of India, requesting the transfer of a senior IPS officer whose wife is an MP candidate for Congress. Mr. Hemanth Nimbalkar (1998 batch IPS officer) serves as the commissioner of the Department of Information and Public Relations, and his wife, Anjali Nimbalkar, an incumbent MLA from Khanapur in Belagavi district, has secured an MP ticket from Karnataka’s Uttara Kannada Lok Sabha constituency.
In their letter to the competent authority, the state BJP wrote, “He (Officer Nimbalkar) is a highly influential IPS officer in Karnataka. In view of the above relationship, there is every likelihood of his influence on other IPS officials and other police officials and personnel in electioneering work, to favour the State Ruling Congress Party. If he continues in the same post, he will use his influence to favour the Congress party and its candidates.”
The state BJP fears that a top cop with political affiliation could hinder the electoral campaign of their karyakartas, potentially compromising the free and fair nature of the elections.
