The Election Commission of India (ECI) has appointed new SPs for three districts of the state and a collector for Palnadu district. Srikesh Balaji Latkar is new Collector for Palnadu, while Malika Garg is the SP. Other new SPs are Gautami Shali for Anantapur and V Harshavardhan Raju for Tirupati.
Interestingly, dynamic women officers were appointed for faction-ridden districts of Palnadu and Anantapur, where large-scale post- poll violence incidents were reported. They were asked to take up the duties immediately. To this extent Chief Secretary K S Jawahar Reddy has issued orders on Saturday night.
It may be recalled that ECI had suspended Palnadu and Anantapur SPs and transferred Palnadu Collector and Tirupati SP holding them responsible for the large-scale violence that broke out in the state on the polling day.
New Palnadu Collector Srikesh Balajirao Lathkar, a 2011 batch IAS officer is currently the Commissioner and Director of Municipal and Urban Development Department. He worked as Srikakulam District Collector till January this year. Earlier he served as Guntur Municipal Commissioner, Vizianagaram Joint Collector and Parvathipuram ITDA PO.
New Palnadu SP Malika Garg, a 2015 batch IPS officer. She had earlier worked as Prakasam SP and later as Tirupati SP. She was shifted from Tirupati within a month before elections due to pressures from the ruling party leaders. They feared that her straightforwardness may bring problems to them during elections. Presently she is SP in AP CID.
New Anantapur SP Gautami Shali is a 2015 batch IPS officer, presently working as commandant of Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam APSP battalions. She had worked as SP of Anakapalli till recently. Earlier, she served as DCP of Visakhapatnam Peace and Security Department.
New Tirupati SP V. Harshavardhan Raju, who is currently the SP of CID cyber crime wing, is a 2013 batch IPS officer. Earlier he was Annamaiah district SP.