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The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday (April 2, 2026) appointed Director-General of Police (DGP) Sandeep Rai Rathore to head the Tamil Nadu police force replacing G. Venkatraman, the in-charge DGP/Head of the Police Force (HoPF).
The ECI said the order would take immediate effect and the officer transferred out shall not be posted in any election related posts till the completion of elections.
The ECI also appointed Additional Director General of Police Sanjay Kumar, a 1997-batch IPS officer, as the Commissioner of Police, Tambaram. He replaces A. Amalraj.
Abhishek Dixit was posted as Commissioner of Police, Madurai, and R.V. Ramya Bharti posted as Inspector-General of Police, West Zone.
The decision comes days after Opposition parties demanded the transfer of some IAS and IPS officers in the State to ensure free and fair conduct of the Assembly election.
The 1992-batch IPS officer is the third senior-most DGP in the state after Seema Agrawal and Rajeev Kumar. He has served as Inspector General of Police, National Disaster Response Force, while on deputation with the Government of India.
Mr. Rathore was in the panel of three officers finalised by the UPSC after the first ECM held in Delhi on September 26, 2025. However, the State did not choose any of them to the top post resulting in a couple of contempt cases in the Supreme Court.
While disposing of one of the contempt cases, the Supreme Court ordered the process of appointing a regular DGP/HoPF be completed within three weeks.
It gave the State one week to send the proposal and UPSC two weeks to finalise the list of three eligible officers. However, the ECM was deferred due to administrative reasons, police source said.
However, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) postponed the Empanelment Committee Meeting scheduled on March 20, 2026, to shortlist the names of 3 DGP candidates fit for appointment as DGP/HoPF of Tamil Nadu police.
While the ECI appoints a DGP, Elections, to take charge of all poll-related responsibilities, Mr Rathore was posted as DGP since there is a no regular HoPF in the State.
Mr. Rathore is a native of Delhi and has served in various capacities in the State and Centre. He was the first Commissioner of the then newly created Avadi Commissionerate and later became the Commissioner of Police, Chennai. He is presently the DGP, Tamil Nadu Police Academy.
Police sources said posting Mr. Rathore as DGP/HoPF shall be effective till the process of election is completed in Tamil Nadu. After that the State Government would have to appoint a regular police chief with a fixed two-year tenure as the apex court guidelines in the Prakash Singh case.
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