Vandita Sharma appointed Karnataka's new Chief Secretary
Bengaluru, May 27: The Karnataka government on Friday appointed senior IAS officer Vandita Sharma as the state's new Chief Secretary.
Sharma, a 1986-batch IAS officer, is currently Additional Chief Secretary and Development Commissioner.
She will succeed P Ravi Kumar who will retire on May 31.
The senior IAS officer will be in office till November 2023. The state goes to assembly polls next year.
Sharma will be Karnataka's 39th chief secretary, and will be the fourth woman to occupy the post, after Teresa Bhattacharya in 2000, Malathi Das in 2006, and K Ratna Prabha in 2017.
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Delhi elections: Items worth over Rs 21 crore seized within week of MCC coming into force
New Delhi (PTI): The office of the Delhi chief electoral officer (CEO) informed on Monday that in the run-up to the Assembly polls in the capital, cash and other items like liquor, worth more than Rs 21 crore, have been seized by various departments within a week of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) coming into effect.
The MCC was implemented on January 7, immediately after the announcement of the poll schedule. Voting for Delhi's 70 Assembly constituencies is scheduled to take place on February 5, with the results set to be declared on February 8.
The MCC is a set of guidelines issued by the Election Commission (EC) to ensure free and fair polls. It regulates the conduct of the political parties and candidates, covering areas such as meetings, processions, election manifestoes, polling and general behaviour during the electoral process.
According to data provided by the Delhi CEO's office, the highest value of seized items was reported in East Delhi, amounting to Rs 6.83 crore. South Delhi followed closely with Rs 6.81 crore, while the New Delhi area recorded the lowest seizures worth Rs 3.9 lakh.
In all, items worth Rs 21.89 crore have been confiscated across the capital. This includes Rs 9.8 crore in cash, precious metals worth Rs 6.1 crore, drugs worth Rs 5.05 crore, freebies worth more than Rs 47 lakh and liquor worth over Rs 45 lakh.
Earlier in the day, during an interaction with the media, Delhi Chief Electoral Officer Alice Vaz said preparations for the Assembly polls are progressing smoothly.
Training programmes for the polling personnel have begun and critical data related to nominations, permissions and enforcement activities are being monitored daily, she added.
The CEO emphasised the importance of mapping the vulnerable and critical polling stations to ensure smooth voting.
"We will follow all the instructions of the Election Commission of India for the mapping of the vulnerable polling stations," she said.
Police deployments and security arrangements for the elections are yet to be finalised, Vaz noted.
