After Jammu and Kashmir Lt Governor G.C. Murmu abruptly resigned on Wednesday, the Centre appointed Manoj Sinha to the post. Murmu's resignation came on the day the Union Territory marked the first anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution, which scrapped Jammu and Kashmir's special status.
The 60-year-old former IAS officer of the Gujarat cadre had on October 29 last year taken over as the first LG of the union territory after the state of Jammu and Kashmir was downgraded and sliced into two UTs, the other one being Ladakh.
There was no official word on the reasons for the resignation of Murmu, a 1985-batch IAS officer, who has served as Principal Secretary to Narendra Modi during his tenure as Gujarat Chief Minister. He was a secretary in the ministry of finance at the time of his appointment as Lt Governor.
On July 28, the Election Commission (ECI) had taken exception to reported statements of Murmu regarding holding of polls in the Union territory after the delimitation exercise is over, saying timing of elections is the sole remit of the EC. “The Election Commission takes exception to such statements and would like to state that in the Constitutional scheme of things, the timings, etc of elections is the sole remit of Election Commission of India,” the ECI said in a statement. They said it would be proper for authorities other than the poll body to refrain from making such statements which “virtually tantamount to interfering with the Constitutional mandate of the Election Commission.”
