Government sources said that Singh reportedly told the EC that it would not be possible to organise the ``massive deployment'' of security forces for the polls at such a short notice. And that a poll in September would be suitable from the security point of view.

When contacted, Singh said: ``I will not talk about my transfer.''

Although an appointee of the Gujral government, Singh continued as Home Secretary when the Vajpayee government came to power last year. He was replaced yesterday by Kamal Pandey, who was secretary in the Agriculture Ministry. Of all the transfers effected yesterday, Singh's was most unexpected since he was said to have a good rapport with Home Minister L K Advani. As many as 10 senior IAS officers were transferred in the reshuffle yesterday.

Meanwhile, continuing its spree of shifting top bureaucrats, the governmenttoday transferred another six even as the opposition criticised the move, saying that it was motivated by ``narrow political considerations.''

The government revised the posting of P R Dasgupta, who was moved to the Planning Commission as advisor yesterday, and posted him as Secretary, Rural Development. Dasgupta was earlier Education Secretary.

Others shifted today include Rural Development secretary P L Sanjeeva Reddy as Planning Commission Advisor and Additional Petroleum Secretary Devi Dayal as public grievances secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat. Additional Water Resources Secretary Arun Kumar was appointed National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority Chairman and Principal Advisor in the Planning Commission Ashok Kumar was made Official Languages secretary.