The Gujarat government on Wednesday wrote to the Election Commission, asking why it ordered the transfer of eight IPS and IAS officers including Director General of Police P C Pande, a decision the poll panel has defended.

The EC has already given its reply to the letter and said the transfers ahead of the December Assembly polls in the state were ordered under Article 324 of the Constitution, official sources said.

The EC said there was no stigma attached to the transfers and it was done in the public interest. The state government submitted names of officials who are to replace those transferred and the EC is likely to announce the appointments for the transferred officials by tomorrow, the sources said.

The government was asked to submit the panel of names on Tuesday by 1700 hours, but it was submitted on Wednesday. The BJP's Gujarat election in-charge, Arun Jaitley, too, had asked the EC the reasons for the transfers.

The EC had on Monday ordered transfer of Pande and seven other senior officials ahead of the December 11 and 16 polls. The others transferred are Ahmedabad police commissioner J Mahapatra, deputy inspector-general of police (Border range) I M Desai, superintendent of police (Patan) J N Rajgor, superintendent of police (Rajkot rural) N D Solanki and superintendent of police (Tapi) S K Gadhavi. district collectors of Valsad and Gandhinagar D H Brahmbhat and Sonal Mishra have also been transferred by the EC.