Amidst a recent development, the government of Odisha transferred Ms. Sujatha Kartikeyan (2000-batch IAS officer) from the Department of Mission Shakti on the instruction of the Election Commission of India.

Officer Karthikeyan, who was posted as Commissioner-cum-Secretary in the Department of Mission Shakti and had an additional charge as secretary in the Departments of Odisha Language Literature and Culture, has been mandated to assume office as Special Secretary in the Department of Finance. She is being replaced by Ms. Shalini Pandit (2001-batch IAS officer), the incumbent Commissioner-cum-Secretary in the Department of Health and Family Welfare.

It is worth mentioning that Officer Kartikeyan is the wife of bureaucrat-turned-politician Mr. VK Pandian, and the state BJP dreads that she might use her administrative authority as Commissioner of Mission Shakti to influence the voters to vote for her husband’s party — the Biju Janata Dal (BJD).