NEW DELHI, March 18 -- Seeking to ensure a level-playing field in the Lok Sabha elections, the Election Commission on Monday ordered the removal of the home secretaries of Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, and it also directed the shunting out of West Bengal DGP Rajeev Kumar.

Also, the secretary of the general administrative departments of Mizoram and Himachal Pradesh have been removed.

The decision to shift the West Bengal DGP was taken as the officer was removed earlier too from active election management-related duty during the 2016 assembly election in the state and in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the sources pointed out.

The EC has asked the state chief secretary to post Rajeev Kumar to a...