EC has now transferred 13 IAS and 20 IPS officers in Bengal. india news
Kolkata: Within three days of announcing the election dates on March 15, the Election Commission (EC) has transferred 60 senior IAS and IPS officers in Bengal. Seventeen of them were designated election observers in other states.In the latest orders since the Model Code of Conduct came into force, the Election Commission on Wednesday transferred 13 IAS officers, who were serving as District Election Officers (DEOs), and 20 IPS officers. The 13 also included DEOs of Kolkata North and Kolkata South electoral districts.
Two IPS officers – Muralidhar Sharma and Waqar Raza – were named election observers for Tamil Nadu. Sharma is the commissioner of Bidhannagar City Police, while Raza took charge as the chief of Siliguri Commissionerate a few days ago. The five IAS officers sent to other states as election observers include JP Meena (removed from the post of Home Secretary on Sunday), Antara Acharya, Pervez Ahmed Siddiqui, P Mohan Gandhi and Priyanka Singla.Officials said that while government officials were routinely transferred before elections, the sheer number of transfers ahead of the 2026 elections made the current practice unprecedented. Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wrote to CEC Gyanesh Kumar asking why the Election Commission ignored the tradition of seeking a panel of three names from the state government to fill each post affected by transfers.