Going full steam to ensure free and fair assembly polls in Gujarat, the Election Commission on Monday appointed five new senior IAS and IPS officers across the State.

While M V Joshi will be the new Collector of Valsad, four Superintendents of Police have been replaced in as many districts.

The EC order comes close on the heels of top level changes in the state police.

In today’s exercise, Wabang Zamir has been appointed Superintendent of Police at Patan, Archana Shivhare as SP in Rajkot Rural and Amit Vishwakarma as SP, Baroda Rural.

Surat Rural SP would hold additional charge as SP Tapi, an EC spokesman said.

The EC had earlier posted senior IPS officer S K Saikia as Ahmedabad’s new Commissioner of Police and appointed G S Malik as the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) border range.

Earlier, the poll panel had posted senior IAS officer Mamta Verma as the new Collector of Gandhinagar, replacing Sonal Mishra, who along with seven senior civil and police officers were shifted.

The Commission had also decided to send three special observers to supervise the observance of model code of conduct by the political parties in the state from tomorrow.

G D Tripathi, Manisha Arun Patankar and Arun Singhal would tour various areas in Ahmedabad, Surat and Jamnagar, the EC said.

In addition, the Commission is also sending three teams of its officials this week to oversee poll readiness in Baroda, Surat and Ahmedabad.

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