Tan Xiwei, deputy director of the Chongqing Municipal People's Congress Standing Committee, was removed from his post on May 6, said the Organization Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.

Tan is suspected of serious discipline violation, said the department, adding that his removal is being handled according to procedure.

Tan is believed to be the first provincial-level official that was toppled in Chongqing in the anti-graft campaign starting from November 2012. He was also the highest-ranking official sacked in Chongqing since former Party chief Bo Xilai's downfall in March 2012.