Mumbai, November 5 (IANS): The Election Commission of India on Tuesday approved the appointment of IPS officer Sanjay Kumar Verma as Director General of Police, Maharashtra.

Verma of the 1990 batch is currently the General, Legal and Technical Director. He will retire in April 2028.

Verma’s appointment comes a day after the poll panel removed incumbent Rashmi Shukla, an IPS officer from the 1988 batch, following opposition allegations of bias in her functioning. The state government had given the charge of DGP to Mumbai Police Commissioner Vivek Phansalkar until the new appointment.

The state government had submitted a panel of three IPS officers, including Verma, Sanjeevkumar Singhal and Ritesh Kumar, for Shukla’s successor. Apart from these, the ECI cleared Verma’s name in this post.

Verma’s appointment comes a few days before the Assembly elections scheduled for November 20. Shukla was dismissed specifically following the opposition’s demand to the ECI that he should hold free and transparent elections in the state.

The Congress had written three letters to the EC seeking Shukla’s removal, alleging that he was working on behalf of the BJP, especially while targeting opposition leaders during the ongoing election campaign.

The opposition had also raised the issue of the BJP-led government’s role in illegal phone tapping carried out in 2015 and 2019, when it was in power in the state. The MahaYuti government had appointed Shukla as the state DGP in January this year and his tenure was till January 2026, but Shukla was scheduled to retire in June this year.

State Congress chief Nana Patole and Shiv Sena-UBT MP Sanjay Raut last week reiterated their demand for immediate removal of DGP Shukla. Patole alleged that Shukla was a controversial officer who sided with the BJP and with him in office, there were doubts about the fair and transparent conduct of the elections. He said the Congress had appealed to the Election Commission of India to remove Shukla from his post but the poll panel ignored it.

“When the BJP demanded the removal of DGPs of West Bengal and Jharkhand, they were immediately replaced, but the Election Commission is yet to remove the DGP of Maharashtra,” Patole said.

“Is there a different law for Jharkhand, West Bengal and Maharashtra? Shukla needs to be removed immediately for a fair and transparent election,” he added.

“Shukla allegedly instructed Commissioners of Police and district police officers to file cases against opposition leaders and harass them. The police machinery reportedly obstructed, oppressed and threatened opposition leaders and workers. Rashmi Shukla’s approach has been controversial in the past too. Patole claimed that he was involved in tapping the phones of opposition leaders and a case was registered against him.