Bengaluru, June 30: Senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer T.M. Vijay Bhaskar will be Karnataka's new Chief Secretary, replacing K. Ratna Prabha who retired on superannuation on Saturday, an official notification said.

A 1983-batch officer of the Karnataka cadre, Bhaskar, 57, was earlier the Additional Chief Secretary to the state government.

He was the former Bengaluru civic body's administrator.

Prabha, 59, was on a three-month extension since April 1 due to the Assembly poll on May 12 in the southern state.

She was the first Dalit woman to become Chief Secretary in Karnataka and the third woman officer to hold the top administrative post.

On her retirement from office, Prabha in a tweet said: "It is time to hang my boots and cannot believe 37 years of service is over...My USP has been public grievances."

"...I appeal to my fellow officers to make it a habit to meet people and help at least one person a day no matter how busy you are...I have followed this all my life and it has never let me down."

Deputy Chief Minister G. Parameshwara said Prabha has been a pillar of strength to women in Karnataka.

"Good officers lead by example. Your zeal to solve people's problems will always be remembered. You are a pillar of strength to many women in Karnataka..," Parameshwara tweeted.

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Colombo (PTI): National People's Power (NPP) leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake seems set to become Sri Lanka’s ninth executive president on Sunday with an impressive show in the presidential election, according to postal voting results of seven electoral districts.

The polling took place on Saturday from 7 am to 4 pm local time at over 13,400 polling stations in 22 electoral districts.

The 56-year-old leader had taken an unassailable lead over his rivals, the main Opposition leader, Sajith Premadasa, 57, and the incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe, 75.

According to results declared in postal voting of seven of the 22 electoral districts, the NPP leader has gained 56 per cent of the votes, with his rivals trail him by grabbing 19 per cent each.

According to the trend shown in postal voting results, analysts say Dissanayake is likely to win the presidency by 50 per cent plus votes.

This comes after predictions that a second preference vote count might be needed to determine the winner among the three front runners.

The election, dubbed a three-cornered contest between Wickremesinghe, Dissanayake, and Premadasa of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), shows signs of being a landslide for Dissanayake, who would become Sri Lanka’s first ever Marxist head of state.