New Delhi: The Election Commission on Monday appointed Jharkhand cadre senior-most IPS officer Ajay Kumar Singh as the state DGP, sources said, days after the poll panel removed Anurag Gupta as the acting police chief. 

An officer of the 1989 batch of the Indian Police Service, Singh was selected from a panel of three IPS officers whose names were sent by the state government. 

The names were sent after the poll authority on Saturday ordered the removal of acting DGP Gupta due to his “history” of election-related misconduct in previous polls. 

The state goes to polls in two phases on November 13 and 20. 

On Saturday, the EC had asked the state government to ensure that the charge of the DGP is handed over to the senior most DGP-level officer in the cadre as an interim measure. 

The state government was also asked to submit a panel of names of senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officers by October 21 morning to enable the EC to pick an officer to be named the next DGP.