The Election Commission of India issued an order on Tuesday, transferring senior police officials of West Bengal ahead of the Assembly polls scheduled next mont.
The order comes a day after the Election Commission transferred two senior officials of the West Bengal government, including Chief Secretary Nandini Chakravorty, hours after announcing the poll schedule for West Bengal.
In the letter, the poll body said it reviewed the poll preparedness for the general election to the Legislative Assembly and issued orders for the transfers of the senior police officers. "...the officers transferred out shall not be posted in any election-related posts till the completion of elections," stated the letter signed by commission secretary Sujeet Kr Mishra.
The new appointment of senior police officials are as follows:
The Election Commission has also issued orders for appointment of Superintendents of Police for places such as Barasat, Coochbehar, Birbhum, Hooghly rural, Diamond Harbour, Murshidabad, Malda and six other places.
The poll panel said its directions are to be implemented with immediate effect, and asked for a report of the joining of the two officers in their respective offices by 11am on March 18.
The Election Commission said it will leave no stone unturned for holding transparent, fear-free, violence-free and inducement-free elections.
The reshuffle, unprecedented in West Bengal's recent administrative history, was enforced in the wake of the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress dispensation's constant criticism of the poll body over the ongoing SIR exercise in the state.
Sweeping transfers 'arbitrary and unilateral': Mamata Banerjee
After the Election Commission transferred Nandini Chakravorty and directed that Dushyant Nariala be posted as Chief Secretary of the state government, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her party, the Trinamool Congress (TMC), criticised the move, calling it “arbitrary” and “unilateral.”
Banerjee framed the reshuffle as biased, alleging it was “anti-Bengali and anti-women,” particularly objecting to the removal of the state’s first woman chief secretary. TMC leaders echoed this sentiment, claiming the action reflected interference by the Centre and was aimed at weakening the state administration ahead of polls.
Besides the Chief Secretary, West Bengal Home Secretary Jagdish Prasad Meena was replaced by Sanghamitra Ghosh. The poll body also removed Director General of Police (DGP) Peeyush Pandey and replaced him with 1992-batch IPS officer Siddh Nath Gupta. Ajay Kumar Nand was appointed the new police commissioner of Kolkata, replacing Supratim Sarkar.
Questioning the manner in which West Bengal’s top administrative and police officers were transferred within 24 hours of the declaration of the Assembly polls, Banerjee said the action undermines “co-operative federalism”.
In a letter to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, Mamata Banerjee stated that such sweeping transfers were done without any “reasons and without any allegation of violation, misconduct or lapse.”
The TMC also staged a day-long walkout from the Rajya Sabha on Monday, protesting the EC's decision to remove the state's top bureaucrats. Assembly polls in West Bengal will be held in the state on April 23 and 29, and votes will be counted on May 4.
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